Homework : OL 12.1 (all) due Tuesday

1. FrontPage: Why do you think the Supreme Court decides to hear certain cases and not others? Homework: OL 12.1 (all) due Tuesday

2. Deciding to Decide How Cases Are Selected By the Supreme Court

4. To Cert or not to cert… • If a party loses its case at the circuit level, it may choose to petition the Supreme Court to review the decision: • It is asking for a writ of certiorari; most cases reach the Court this way; known as a “writ of cert” • The Petitioner – the person who writes the petition for the writ of certiorari • The Respondent – this is the person who won the case in the lower court • The Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions to hear cases every year. • Of those thousands, only about 80-100 are actually heard each year • The SC justices do not have time to review all of these petitions; their clerks will read them, and make suggestions about which are the most important • Chief Justice places some petitions on the discuss list • The justices will get together in conference and discuss the petitions • Other justices may also put petitions on this list if they believe they are in need of discussion • How many justices does it take to agree to hear a case?

6. Once a case is selected… • The writ asks a lower court to send up the record of the case so the Court can review and hear it. • 3 options: • The court may decide to issue a per curiam opinion, if it knows how it will rule in the case – issues an unsigned general decision in the case • It may decide to hear the case – will put it on the docket • Vacate and Remand – send the case back down to the lower court to be retried in light of new circumstances