How does a case reach the Supreme Court?

#Two ways into the Court

Article III gives the Supreme Court two kinds of power. Appellate jurisdiction lets it review decisions of other courts, and most of its cases are of this kind. Original jurisdiction lets a case begin at the Court. For appeals, federal law sets the routes. Any party to a case in a federal court of appeals may petition for a writ of certiorari. So may a party to a final judgment of a state’s highest court, if the case raises a federal question such as the validity of a federal law. A few cases come by direct appeal from three-judge district courts.

#How a certiorari petition works

A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to send up the record of a case for review. A party usually has 90 days after the judgment to file a petition. Rule 10 of the Court’s rules, as of November 2026, says review “is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion” and will be granted “only for compelling reasons.” Among the reasons it lists:

• Federal courts of appeals have reached conflicting decisions on the same important matter.
• A state’s highest court has decided an important federal question in conflict with another state’s highest court or a federal court of appeals.
• A state court or federal court of appeals has decided an important federal question that the Supreme Court has not settled, or has decided one in conflict with the Court’s own decisions.

The rule says this list does not control the Court’s discretion. It adds that a petition is “rarely granted” when the claimed error is a wrong finding of fact or the misapplication of a properly stated rule of law.

#The rule of four

U.S. Courts says four of the nine justices must vote to accept a case. Justices have called this the rule of four. The phrase and the number do not appear in the Court’s printed rules, and Justice Frankfurter, in a 1957 dissent, described it as “a working rule devised by the Court.” The justices meet privately on Fridays during and before argument weeks to discuss and vote on petitions, and they evaluate approximately 130 petitions each week. The Court’s website says it receives approximately 7,000–8,000 petitions each Term and grants and hears argument in about 80 cases. On Monday mornings, it releases an order list, a public report that includes cases accepted and rejected.

#An example: Gideon v. Wainwright

Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with breaking and entering a poolroom, a felony under Florida law. He appeared without funds or a lawyer and asked the court to appoint one, and the court refused. A jury convicted him, and he was sentenced to five years in state prison. He then filed a habeas corpus petition in the Florida Supreme Court, which denied relief without an opinion. The US Supreme Court granted certiorari. Because Gideon was proceeding in forma pauperis, the status for parties who cannot afford court fees, the Court appointed a lawyer for him. It heard argument on January 15, 1963. On March 18, 1963, it reversed the judgment and sent the case back to the Florida Supreme Court.

#Cases that start at the Court

The Constitution gives the Court original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and in cases in which a state is a party. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1251, only the Supreme Court can hear controversies between two or more states. It shares other categories with lower courts, such as disputes between the United States and a state. A party begins with a motion for leave to file.

New Jersey v. New York shows how such a case runs. In 1993, New Jersey invoked the Court’s original jurisdiction in a dispute over land added to Ellis Island by landfill. A special master held a trial from July 10 to August 15, 1996, and reported to the Court. On May 26, 1998, the Court ruled 6–3 that New Jersey had sovereign authority over the filled land.