Supreme Court

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Supreme Court

• Workings of the nations highest court

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The Courts Procedures

• During two-week sessions, justices hear oral
  arguments on cases and then meet in secret to
  make decisions.
• The justices consider arguments in cases they
  have heard and petitions from plaintiffs, and
  then write opinions for cases they have decided.
• Justices written opinions interpret the law and
  help shape public policy.

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DID YOU KNOW?

• The Supreme Court reviews about five percent of
  the cases referred to it. Does this statistic
  concern you?

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How Cases Reach the Court

• The majority of cases are appeals from lower
  courts.
• Appeals concern cases in which a lower court has
  ruled laws unconstitutional. Cases not chosen are
  dismissed, and the ruling of the lower court
  becomes final.
• Writ of certiorari, someone claims a lower
  courts decision involved an error raising a
  serious constitutional issue.
• Chief justice makes list
• Two thirds of all certiorari cases never make the
  list.
• If four of the nine justices agree, a case is
  accepted.
• per curiam opinion (more than half of listed
  cases)

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Steps in Deciding Major Cases

• Each side submits a brief
• amicus curiae briefs.
• each side make oral arguments
• On Fridays the chief justice presides over a
  secret conference, in which each single case is
  summarized
• The justices spend about 30 minutes debating each
  case.

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4 Kinds of Opinions

• a unanimous opinion
• a majority opinion
• a concurring opinion
• a dissenting opinion

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Who writes the opinion?

• If the chief justice votes with the majority, he
  or she assigns a justice in the majority to write
  the Courts opinion. If not, the most senior
  justice with the majority assigns a justice to
  write the opinion.

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