This casebook contains cases we will review during class and links for each of the paper/presentation topics.  Each topic is associated with a Supreme Court case (or cases).

Supreme Court Appellate Process

1. Cert Petition filed: Loser in the court below (Petitioner) files a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Court.  ("Hey SCOTUS, this is why you should hear my case.")
2. Cert Opposition filed: Winner in the court below (Respondent) files an opposition. ("This is not a suitable case for the Supreme Court.   You should let the ruling below 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 file from the court below is transmitted to the Supreme Court. (If cert is denied, the lower court's decision stands. Justices who voted to grant cert will sometimes publish an opinion in the event of a denial.) 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 addressing the Respondent's arguments. ("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. The arguments in these briefs advance the interests of the particular group.
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 author the "majority opinion."  Justices may author their own opinions if they do not agree with the outcome or reasoning behind the majority opinion.  (Concurrences agree with the result.  Dissents disagree.)

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 are sequential stamps.

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