Читать книгу The Handy Supreme Court Answer Book - David L Hudson - Страница 62

The Supreme Court has discretionary jurisdiction, which means that in the vast majority of cases the Court has discretion whether or not it will hear a particular case. The Court only hears eighty out of eight thousand cases each term so the chances for review in any particular case are extremely small.

However, the Court has provided “consideration” for cases that it might take in Rule 10 of its Supreme Court Rules.

CourtSpeak: Rule 10 of the Rules of the Supreme Court

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.

A petition for a writ of certiorari is rarely granted when the asserted error consists of erroneous factual findings or the misapplication of a properly stated rule of law.”