Supreme Court: The Basics

The Supreme Court is made up of 1 Chief Justice and 8 Associate Judges nominated by the President and appointed by the Senate. Judges serve until either death of retirement. Term begins on the first Monday of every October, with a recess from late June/early July to October.

Chief Justice                           JOHN G. ROBERTS, JR.

Associate Justices                   ANTONIN SCALIA

ANTHONY M. KENNEDY

CLARENCE THOMAS

RUTH BADER GINSBURG

STEPHEN G. BREYER

SAMUEL A. ALITO, JR.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR

ELENA KAGAN

While the above is, for the most part, common knowledge, the actual process underlying the acquisition, argument, and ruling of a Court case is less well known. It all begins with a party that is dissatisfied with the decision of a lower court petitioning to the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari (a request from the Supreme Court to a lower court to send up a record of a case for review). Four of the nine justices must vote to accept the case, and even then only about 100 cases are heard per year, of the average of 10,000 that are submitted.

Once the Justices accept a case, it is placed in a docket. The petitioner and the other party (known as the respondent) are given a certain amount of time to write a brief legal case, with a limit of 50 pages. After these initial “briefs” are filed, the parties can file shorter ones responding to each others arguments.

The next step is the Oral Argument. Oral Arguments are heard from October through April, usually on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Both parties get a half hour to speak their case, and most of that time is spent answering the Judges’ questions, since most of the case details have already been covered in the briefs. Once the cases are heard, the Judges vote on them during conferences typically held on Wednesdays and Fridays, and only on Fridays when the court is out of session. The dissent and majority both write opinions. If a Judge agrees with the decision, but not the rationale, he can write a concurring opinion. If there is a tie vote, the decision of the previous court stands (this can happen when one of the Justices is absent).

Finally, once a majority of the Justices agree to the contents of the Court’s opinion, they are handed down, and made public, either on the last day of that term or at some point before then. No opinion is considered the official opinion of the Court until it is made available to the public.