Right Side of the Rainbow

Unlike the regional courts of appeal, which must take all cases appealed to them, the U.S. Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction is discretionary. In other words, the Court takes only the cases it likes and leaves the rest. So what factors lead the Court to accept a case, or to “grant cert” (short for certiorari)? Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog has the answer in this short but informative podcast.

Certiorari is “a writ issuing from a superior court calling up the record of a proceeding in an inferior court for review.”

In the headnote to every U.S. Supreme Court slip opinion, you’ll read the identity of the lower court to whom the writ of certiorari was issued. (The lower court is usually, but not always, a federal appeals court or a state supreme court.) See, for example, the headnote to Hamdan v. Rumsfeld where the writ was issued to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit:

Early in the body of the opinion, the Court will explain the circumstances of its decision to grant cert:

If you’d like to know more, the podcast linked above is an excellent primer.

ADDED —

By the way, although there are nine justices, the Supreme Court will grant cert in a case if only four of the justices wish it.

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