Criminal Cases in the Supreme Court’s Jurisdiction Dissertation

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It is a well-known fact that the US Supreme Court does not review all cases. To be reviewed in the Supreme Court, the case should fall within federal jurisdiction. This situation usually transpires because state-level issues are recurrently solved in state courts (Grossi, 2014). If a case is believed to make it to the US Supreme Court, it should be filed in the state or federal court first. Juries would evaluate the obtained evidence and the legal opinions of both parties before reaching a verdict. If juries decide that the plaintiff is right, they will process the case to higher authorities. In this case, the Supreme Court is the last instance.

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To appeal properly, the plaintiff has to file a petition for certiorari which is an exclusive discretionary jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court (Gaines & Miller, 2011). In this document, the plaintiff enumerates all the facts and evidence that they believe are mandatory for the Supreme Court to make a decision. In turn, the defendant can file a prompt response to the appeal. The next stage presupposes that the case is reviewed by professional legal assistants who evaluate the case and add their recommendations concerning the case before transferring it to the Supreme Court justices. A writ of certiorari is issued if the justices reach a positive verdict relating to the hearing of the case.

Annually, the Supreme Court of the United States reviews thousands of certioraris, but less than one hundred are heard in the Court. There are several aspects of discretion that are taken into consideration by the Supreme Court justices before proceeding to the hearing and rendering an opinion. First, the Court is keen on resolving only crucial legal issues that are state- or nationwide. When federal or state courts disagree on a particular decision, the US Supreme Court may step in and resolve the problem before things take a bad turn. Second, the Court only resolves the issues where a high degree of importance is inherent.

There are several vivid examples of such issues which include the Watergate scandal, election battle between Bush and Gore in 2000, and even social problems (for instance, abortion) that should be reviewed only in extreme cases (Baum, 2013). Third, the Supreme Court may choose to hear cases that coincide with the justices’ interests. In other words, the judges may pick a case that relates to their favorite area of practice. Fourth, the Supreme Court may choose to hear the case if a state or federal court transparently neglects a former Supreme Court decision (Martinez, 2014). In this case, the justices may correct the decision of the lower court or change it completely without comment.

As far as I am concerned, stating that there is a case that is not important enough for review is blatantly wrong. In other words, I consider this legal standard to be a mediocre practice which, on a lower level, may discriminate against the US citizens and lead to wrong rulings in state and federal courts. While this does not mean that the system should transform, this means that the current methodology of choosing which cases to hear that is employed by the US Supreme Court should be multidimensional to allow the justices to adopt a more flexible approach.

References

Baum, L. (2013). American courts process and policy. Mexico City, México: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Gaines, L. K., & Miller, R. L. (2011). Criminal justice in action: The core. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

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Grossi, S. (2014). The U.S. Supreme Court and the modern common law approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Martinez, J. M. (2014). The greatest criminal cases: Changing the course of American law. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

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IvyPanda. 2020. "Criminal Cases in the Supreme Court's Jurisdiction." August 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/criminal-cases-in-the-supreme-courts-jurisdiction/.

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