Law and Society Spring 2022

  • C.E. Field (University of Alabama)

Introduction Introduction

This casebook contains links for each of the paper/presentation topics.  Each topic is associated with a pending Supreme Court case (or cases).

Supreme Court Appellate Process

  1. Cert Petition: Loser in the court below (Petitioner) files a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Court.  ("Hey Scourt, this is why you should hear my case.")
  2. Cert Opposition: Winner in the court below (Respondent) files an opposition. ("This is not a suitable case for the Supreme Court.   You should let the ruling stand.")
  3. Cert Granted: Supreme Court votes.  If at least 4 of the 9 justices vote to hear the case, the petition is granted and the case continues on the Supreme Court's docket.  If cert is denied, sometimes justices who believe cert should have been granted will publish their opinion.
  4. Briefing and argument schedules are set.
  5. Petitioner's Brief: Petitioner files its brief on the merits. ("Hey Scourt, this is why you should rule in my favor and reverse the lower court.")
  6. Respondent's Brief: Respondent files its opposition brief. ("Petitioner's arguments fail because ______.  You should uphold the ruling of the lower court.")
  7. Reply Brief: Petitioner has the last word and files a reply brief. ("Respondent is wrong because ____.  I win.")
  8. Amici Briefs: Other people, groups, and governmental bodies (amici curiae) file briefs in support of the party they believe should win.
  9. Oral Argument: The Petitioner, Respondent, and sometimes another interested party will have a scheduled time to appear before the Supreme Court to argue their case.  The justices ask questions; the parties try to answer. 
  10. Ruling: One justice will issue a "majority opinion."  Other justices join in the opinion.  There may be dissents or concurrences.

Resources

The links in this casebook nearly all come from the docket (list of documents filed) for your case. When a cert petition is filed, it is assigned a "docket number."  The first 2 numbers are the year in which the petition was filed.  The numbers after the hyphen signify filing order.

Supremecourt.gov has case dockets online.  Oral Argument audio and transcripts are also available through that website or oyez.