If a litigant feels
dissatisfied or shortchanged by a judicial decision, the United
States Federal Law provides the choice to have the judgment reviewed
by the highest federal court in the country - the Supreme Court. A
disappointed losing party can always go ahead and file a petition for
writ for certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States of
America. This is a request to commence appellate proceedings to
reexamine the decision taken by a trial court or lower appeals
court.
However, merely
filing a petition does not signify that the Supreme Court will grant
and hear the same. The review is actually not a right and depends on
judicial discretion only. In fact, while more than 7000 petitions for
writ for certiorari are filed with the Supreme Court in a year, only
30% of them are actually considered and a mere 100 to 150 (contain
compelling reasons) actually reach the hearing stage.
The rest are denied
without any comment or explanation. Moreover, a denial by the Supreme
Court does not in any way indicate that it agrees with the judgment
of the lower court.
Procedure for filing
a petition for writ of certiorari
The Rules of the
Supreme Court establish stringent procedures for filing a petition
for writ of certiorari. The requirements cover everything from what
to file in the petition, method of filing and the time period for
filing the petition to even the type of paper, cover, typeface,
margins and binding of the petition document.
Let's take a look at
some of the rules:
• Paid petitions
should always be filed in a booklet document format only.
• The brief cannot
exceed 40 pages, which means the petitioner actually has only about
30 pages to work with.
• There is a word
limit of 9000 for the petition.
• The pages should
be sized 6.125" × 9.25" and should not weight less than 60
pounds.
• The brief should
have a white cover of 65 pound paper only.
• Only perfect
binding or saddle stitching is preferred.
• 40 copies of the
petition should be filed with the Supreme Court and 3 copies should
be sent to each party.
The rules do not
allow any leeway, and in fact, many a is denied simply due to
procedural noncompliance itself! To add to the problem, the specific
size of 6.125" × 9.25" (for perfect binding) and 12.25"
× 9.25" (for saddle stitching) are not available with any of
the office supplies stores. This is why petitioners have no choice
but to turn to special typesetters for getting their petitions
printed and dole out more than $1500 for these services.
The total cost of
filing a petition for writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court often
totals up to $2500 ($300 is docket fee for filing) which can severely
pinch the pocket, especially given the low chance of the petition
being granted.
There is only one
supplier in the United States of America for tthe exact petition
paper kits and this can cut your costs literally to half. You will
have to dole out about $750 for the paper and covers and can print
the petition at home itself.
In sum, the odds of
your petition of certiorari actually being granted by the Supreme
Court are exceptionally long. And if you do decide to go ahead and
take a chance by filing a petition, do not compound the problem by
failing to comply with the procedural requirements itself!
