THE COURT’S PROCEDURES Washington, DC The Supreme Court meets about nine months out of the year. The Court traditionally convenes on the first Monday of October. The Court sits (sittings) to listen to ORAL ARGUMENTS given by lawyers on both sides of the case. After the two-week sitting, the justices meet in secret conference (recess) to discuss the cases.

SUPREME COURT DECISIONS Supreme Court decisions are known as OPINIONS. Nearly 10,000 cases are appealed to the Court each year. The Court only accepts about 1% of cases appealed. The Court may decide several hundred cases, but give full opinions on only a handful. Most cases are decided per curiam, with no written explanation issued. These cases are usually decided unanimously and focus on uncontroversial topics.

Supreme Court Cases

HOW CASES REACH THE SUPREME COURT The main route to the Supreme Court is by a WRIT OF CERTIORARI. This is an order from the Court to a lower court to send up records of a case. Appeals to the Supreme Court are made but the court refuses to hear 99% of the cases sent up to them.

How Cases Reach the Supreme Court For a case to be heard by the Court, four of nine judges must agree that it should be placed on the Court’s docket. Writ of Certiorari Most cases reach the Court via “the rule of four” – writ of certiorari. Certificate Cases can reach the Court by certificate when a lower court asks for the Court to certify the answer to a specific question in the matter.

APPEALS Certain types of cases go to the Supreme Court on appeal. Most are cases where a lower federal or state court says that a law is unconstitutional. U.S. Constitution

Appealing a Case to the Supreme Court

SELECTING CASES When petitions for certiorari come to the Court, the justices or their clerks identify which cases are worthy of discussion. The Chief Justice put these cases on a ‘discuss’ list for all the justices to consider. All other cases are dismissed.

DECIDING TO ACCEPT A CASE Four justices must decide that a case is worthy of consideration. (Rule of Four) Some cases can be decided quickly, without a written opinion explaining the reasons for the decision.

STEPS IN DECIDING MAJ0R CASES After the Court accepts a case, both sides submit a BRIEF, which is a written statement setting forth the legal arguments, relevant facts, and precedents supporting one side of a case.

SUBMITTING BRIEFS Parties not directly involved in a case may submit written briefs, called amicus curiae, or ‘friend of the court’ briefs. These briefs are a subtle way of trying to lobby the Court to consider your point of view.

ORAL ARGUMENTS After briefs are submitted, lawyers for each side are asked to present an oral argument before the court. Before the 20 th century, lawyers got 2 hours to give their arguments. Today each side is only given 30 minutes. Justices often interrupt the lawyers for questions. The lawyers speak from a lectern with a red light and a white light. The white light flashes when there are five minutes left. When the red light flashes, the lawyer MUST stop talking immediately.

THE CONFERENCE The Chief Justice presides over a closed-door conference in which justices present their views on the case at hand. The justices spend 6 to 9 hours discussing the merits of the case. By tradition, the justices shake hands before they begin deliberating. No minutes are kept of the discussions and no one else is allowed in the room.

WRITING THE OPINION WRITING THE OPINION Once the Court finishes its conference, it reaches a decision and its opinion is written. 1) unanimous opinion: all justices agree 2) majority opinion: expresses the views of a majority of the justices; the majority opinions stand as precedents, or examples to be followed in similar cases as they arise in the lower courts or reach the Supreme Court. 3) concurring opinion: a justice agrees with the outcome, but for a different reason 4) dissenting opinion: is the opinion of those justices on the losing side.

What do the justices do? When asked what justices spend most of their time doing, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor replied, “We read. We read on average 1500 pages a day. We read. Sometimes we write.” Justice Scalia famously added, “We try to squeeze in a little time for thinking.” Quotations attributable to cnn.com

What else do they do? Justices also hear questions about legal applications of various laws, including stays of executions. There are 1200 of these a year and most are acted on by a single justice. Justices also provide free legal advice (pro bono work) throughout the year to groups in need a legal help. Some justices give commencement speeches, grant interview requests, write books, and study, study, study.

MORE IMPORTANT VOCABULARY IMPOUND: when the president refuses to spend money allocated by Congress – ruled unconstitutional by the Court STARE DECISIS: Latin for ‘let the decision stand,’ this means that once the Court rules on a case, the decision stands as a PRECEDENT, or model, on which other cases will be decided. The Court is reluctant to overturn a precedent unless there is a compelling reason to do so.