Why are cases sent to the US Supreme Court?

Answer 1

The real issue is why does the Supreme Court choose to hear a specific case. Anyone can send a case or an appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court last served as a court of original jurisdiction in 1924. It insists that it has the right to serve in that capacity. It is doubtful that the Chief Justice has any idea of what circumstances could possibly arise that would require the Supreme Court to be a court of original Jurisdiction. Normally the Supreme Court hears appeal of cases dealing with conflicts in laws. If the fifth circuit in Baton Rouge rules one way in a specific situation and then the 11th Circuit in Atlanta rules a different way and then the Ninth Circuit in California rules yet a different way, then the Supreme Court might hear an appeal. Then the Supreme Court will listen to the material. It will make its decision. From then on, the rules as to how the law will be applied the same way in all of the different courts.

Answer 2

According to US Supreme Court Rules, Rule 10, the following are the three (simplified) reasons appellate cases are heard in the Supreme Court:

1. Circuit splits: conflicting decisions between two or more US Courts of Appeals Circuit Courts.
2. A State supreme court or state court of appeals (if the state supreme court refuses to hear the case) decision is in conflict with a federal appeals court decision.
3. A state or federal court rendered a decision on an important federal question (constitutional law) that should be handled by the US Supreme Court, or that is in conflict with comparable decisions made by the Supreme Court.

The actual rule reads as follows:

Rule 10. Considerations Governing Review on Writ of Certiorari

"Review on a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion. A petition for a writ of certiorari will be granted only for compelling reasons. The following, although neither controlling nor fully measuring the Court's discretion, indicate the character of the reasons the Court considers:

• (a) a United States court of appeals has entered a decision in conflict with the decision of another United States court of appeals on the same important matter; has decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with a decision by a state court of last resort; or has so far departed from the accepted and usual course of judicial proceedings, or sanctioned such a departure by a lower court, as to call for an exercise of this Court's supervisory power;
• (b) a state court of last resort has decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with the decision of another state court of last resort or of a United States court of appeals;
• (c) a state court or a United States court of appeals has decided an important question of federal law that has not been, but should be, settled by this Court, or has decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Court.

For more information, see Related Questions, below.