These are individuals who, fairly recently, graduated from law school, typically, at the top of their class from the best schools. Often, they have served a year or more as a law clerk for a federal judge. Among other things, they do legal research that assists Justices in deciding what cases to accept; help to prepare questions that the Justice may ask during oral arguments; and assist with the drafting of opinions.
The participating Justices divide their petitions among their law clerks. The law clerks, in turn, read the petitions assigned to them, write a brief memorandum about the case, and make a recommendation as to whether the case should be accepted or not. The Justice provides these memoranda and recommendations to the other Justices at a Justices' Conference. If the Justices decide to accept a case grant a petition for certiorari , the case is placed on the docket.
After the petitioner's brief has been filed, the other party, known as the respondent, is given a certain amount of time to file a respondent's brief. This brief is also not to exceed 50 pages. After the initial petitions have been filed, the petitioner and respondent are permitted to file briefs of a shorter length that respond to the other party's respective position. If not directly involved in the case, the U. Government, represented by the Solicitor General, can file a brief on behalf of the government.
With the permission of the Court, groups that do not have a direct stake in the outcome of the case, but are nevertheless interested in it, may file what is known as an amicus curiae Latin for "friend of the court" brief providing their own arguments and recommendations for how the case should be decided.
By law, the U. Supreme Court's term begins on the first Monday in October and goes through the Sunday before the first Monday in October of the following year.
The Court hears oral arguments in cases from October through April. From October through December, arguments are heard during the first two weeks of each month.
From January through April, arguments are heard on the last two weeks of each month. During each two-week session, oral arguments are heard on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays only unless the Court directs otherwise. Oral arguments are open to the public. Typically, two cases are heard each day, beginning at 10 a. Each case is allotted an hour for arguments. During this time, lawyers for each party have a half hour to make their best legal case to the Justices.
Most of this time, however, is spent answering the Justices' questions. The Justices tend to view oral arguments not as a forum for the lawyers to rehash the merits of the case as found in their briefs, but for answering any questions that the Justices may have developed while reading their briefs.
The Solicitor General usually argues cases in which the U. Government is a party. If the U. Government is not a party, the Solicitor still may be allotted time to express the government's interests in the case. During oral arguments, each side has approximately 30 minutes to present its case, however, attorneys are not required to use the entire time. The petitioner argues first, then the respondent. If the petitioner reserves time for rebuttal, the petitioner speaks last. After the Court is seated, the Chief Justice acknowledges counsel for the petitioner, who already is standing at the podium.
The attorney then begins: "Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court. There are a lot of landmark decisions made by prior Supreme Courts that still hold true today. Indeed, when lawyers are making legal arguments, they often refer to decisions that have been set by the Supreme Court in the past. They are usually referred to as a precedent. Therefore, every decision that the Supreme Court makes is very important.
How does a case get put before The Supreme Court? In general, there are three separate paths that a case might follow in order to reach the Supreme Court.
This path means that the Supreme Court hears the case directly. The case does not go through any prior hearings before it gets through to the Supreme Court. The most common example of original jurisdiction involves disputes between states. No other federal court is able to hear a dispute that takes place between two separate states. For example, one example of a case took place in The states were trying to figure out which state has jurisdiction over Ellis Island.
These cases are incredibly rare. Usually, there are only one or two cases that fall under the jurisdiction every cycle. The most common way a case ends up on the docket of the Supreme Court is through an appeals court. Usually, there is a specific party that is looking to appeal a decision of a prior circuit court. In this case, the circuit court can file a petition to have the case heard before The Supreme Court.
This is known as a writ of certiorari. On the other hand, this does not necessarily mean that the Supreme Court has to hear that specific case.
More numerous, but mercifully shorter, are cases from state courts. If any state tribunal decides a federal question and the litigant has no further remedy within the state, the Supreme Court may consider it. Most common—roughly two-thirds of the total—are requests for review of decisions of federal appellate or district courts. With some 7, petitions annually, deciding which case to decide is a load in itself. Seven more cases were subsequently summarily reversed or dismissed. As the certiorari petitions are received, their clerks take turns writing memorandums, and each Justice conducts whatever additional research is necessary.
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