However, things are not as cut and dried as this. Many complications enter the picture, such as:
• To begin with, imagine the workload if the Supreme Court was to grant every one of the more than 7000 petition for writ of certiorari that are filed every term! Certiorari is left to the discretion of the Supreme Court, and only a small percentage of the petitions that are deemed to be of national importance are actually granted certiorari.
• There are numerous rules and regulations governing the writ petition format specified by the Supreme Court. They cover everything from the format, binding and number of copies to the paper color, size and quality to even the font and margins. The exact papers and covers are currently only available with Supreme Court Paper pan-USA.
• Akin to the exact writ petition format specified by the Supreme Court, the required contents of the petition are also clearly laid out. This includes the questions presented for review, a list of the parties involved, various citations, provisions and so on. It is required to be brief and accurate and even the number of words/pages allowed is specified.
• The timelines for filing the petition and successive briefs are also clearly laid out. Failure to comply with any of the above rules can cause your petition to be summarily dismissed for procedural noncompliance!
• Every duly submitted petition goes into a cert. pool and is assigned to any of the law clerks of the Supreme Court who prepares a brief memorandum of the same. The Supreme Court Justices mull on the worthiness of a petition at their weekly Justices’ Conference before voting on it. The Rule of Four requires at least four of the attending Justices to vote in favor of a petition for it to be granted certiorari.
• In the rare case that a petition makes the cut and becomes a certiorari writ, the Justices may still summarily affirm or reverse the lower court’s judgment without a formal hearing. Alternatively, they may even remand the case by sending it back to the lower court for review.
• Only a handful of petitions actually find themselves on the docket and are set for oral arguments by the respective attorneys of both the parties.
Considering the costs and other hurdles involved, litigants would do better to carefully evaluate their chances before applying for a petition for certiorari!
If you wish to add further to the above proceedings, please air your views in the comments section below.
