29d. Explain how a case reaches the Supreme Court, including the appeals process, Writ of Certiorari, and Supreme Court Justices By: John Gruhn

8,000 cases are appealed to the Supreme Court each year. Of these the court accepts only a few hundred each year. In most cases, petitions for review are denied, usually because most of the justices agree that the cases have no significant point of law.

The court selects cases that it does hear according to “the rule of four”: at least four of its nine justices must agree that a case should be put on the courts docket. More than half of the cases decided by the Supreme Court are disposed of in brief orders.

The appeals process is that process a case goes through in order to make it into the Supreme Court.

Most cases reach the Supreme Court by Writ of Certiorari (to be made more certain). A Writ is an order by the court directing a lower court to send up the record in a given case for its review. Either party to a particular case can petition the court for a writ. But cert is granted in particular conditions typically only when a petition raises some important constitutional question or a serious problem in the interpretation of a statute. When Certiorari is denied the decision of lower court stands in that particular case.