1. Article III of the Constitution
Establishes
Supreme Court in which the judicial power of the United States is Vested
Life Tenure or “good behavior” for Judges
Such Inferior courts as Congress may choose to establish
Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

2. Jurisdiction Original – Appellate
The Court’s Authority to hear disputes and determine facts
Appellate
Power to review or revise a lower court decision
The Supreme Court has both Original and Appellate Jurisdiction
The Main Source of the Supreme Court Case Load is their Appellate Jurisdiction

3. Federal Court Structure
Three levels of courts
District Courts where cases go to trial
Over 94 district courts with over 678 active judges
Senatorial Courtesy
Over 325,000 cases
judge rules on legal matters
jury decides the facts
Circuit Courts, hears appeals “as of right”
Try to correct errors of law or procedure
No New Testimony
Supreme Court, hears discretionary appeals

4. District Courts Original Jurisdiction
Over 94 district courts with over 678 active judges
Senatorial Courtesy
Over 325,000 cases
judge rules on legal matters
jury decides the facts

5. Demystifying the Cert Process
The Supreme Court “is not and has never been primarily concerned with the correction of errors in lower court decisions.”
- Chief Justice Vinson

6. The Court’s Primary Role
To resolve conflicts in lower courts, interpret the constitution, laws and treaties of the United States
In other words:
“To secure the national rights and uniformity of judgments”
John Rutledge at the Constitutional Convention

7. Writ of Certiorari The Supreme Court is mainly an APPELATE COURT
If you want the Supreme Court to review your court case, you will need to have the supreme court grant you a
WRIT OF CERTIORARI
An order issued by a higher court to a lower court to send up the record of a case for review.

8. Original Jurisdiction
~ 95 cases are granted a Writ of Cert each year
Original Jurisdiction
~80% of cases accepted come from federal system
<1% of cases accepted are original jurisdiction
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: 12 circuits + Federal Circuit
State Supreme Court – highest state court
Intermediate Appeals Court
U.S. District Court – 94 districts
Federal Trials
Trial Courts – municipal or county
Local Trials
FEDERAL: 1 million cases/yr
STATES: 30 million cases/yr

9. DC
Fed.

10. Role of the Clerks
Clerks do many things in the Supreme Court, however, the main thing they do is reduce the number of petitions that Supreme Court Justices must consider.
10,000 cases are referred to the Supreme Court each year
Supreme Court justices only look at about 200

11. Cert: The Numbers ~80 cases 1% of all petitions! ~6,000 IFP Petitions
~6 IFP cases (0.1% of IFP petitions granted)
~75 paid cases (4% of paid petitions granted)
~6,000 IFP Petitions
~2,000 paid Petitions

12. Cert Pool = = IN the pool NOT in the pool Roberts (Vacant) Kennedy
Sotomayor
Thomas
Ginsburg
Breyer
Kagan
4 clerks x 8 justices =
32 law clerks
read 8,000 petitions
Each clerk reads and writes a memo on 250 petitions/yr
Alito
4 clerks x 1 justice =
4 law clerks
read 8,000 petitions = =

13. “Discuss Lists”
The Chief Justice generates a discuss list, based on memos prepared by clerks. Other justices may add to the list.
All cases generated by Solicitor General (#4 in Justice Dept) are automatically discussed
So are all Capital Cases (no such thing as a “frivolous case” here)

14. The Rule of Four If four justices vote to grant cert, it is granted
Designed to prevent tyranny of the majority
If a case does not gain four votes, a justice may write a “dissent from denial,” but this is extremely rare.
All votes are secret

15. More “cert-worthy” criteria
Conflict exists in lower courts
Important
Multiple amicus briefs at cert stage
Affects large number of people
Unique/one of a kind case this Court must decide
Sui Generis - 1 of a kind (U.S. v. Nixon, Bush v. Gore)
Legal importance - (when there’s confusion in the legal system, ie: sentencing)