Definition and Composition
The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest tribunal within the U.S. and hears a limited number of cases per year associated with the Constitution or laws of the United States. It is currently composed of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices. The current Chief Justice is John Roberts; the eight associate justices are Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016. President Obama nominated Merrick Garland as his replacement on March 16, 2016, but the U.S. Senate did not initiate the process for Garland's approval. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the Senate would not approve a Scalia replacement until after a new president took office in January, 2017.
The U.S. Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, in 2010. Top row (left to right): Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Bottom row (left to right): Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Justices
The Supreme Court justices are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, or are removed after impeachment. Although the justices do not represent or receive official endorsements from political parties, they are usually informally labeled as judicial conservatives, moderates, or liberals in their legal outlook.
Article III of the United States Constitution leaves it to Congress to fix the number of justices. Initially, The Judiciary Act of 1789 called for the appointment of six justices. But in 1866, at the behest of Chief Justice Chase, Congress passed an act providing that the next three justices to retire would not be replaced, which would thin the bench to seven justices by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. In 1869, however, the Circuit Judges Act returned the number of justices to nine, where it has since remained.
How Cases Reach the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the first court to hear certain kinds of cases in accordance with both Article III and the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution. These cases include those between the United States and one of the states, those between two or more states, those brought by one state against citizens of another state or foreign country, and those involving foreign ambassadors or other ministers. However, only about 1% of the Supreme Court's cases consist of these cases. Most cases reach the Supreme Court as appeals from civil and criminal cases that have been decided by state and lower federal courts.
Cases that come to the Supreme Court as appeals begin as a writ of certiorari, which is a petition to the Supreme Court to review the case. The Supreme Court will review the case if four of the nine justices agree to "grant cert. " This standard for acceptance is known as the Rule of Four. Cases that are granted cert must be chosen for "compelling reasons," as outlined in the court's Rule 10. These reasons could be that the cases present a conflict in the interpretation of federal law or the Constitution, that they raise an important question about federal law, or that they represent an extreme departure from the normal course of judicial proceedings. The Supreme Court can also grant cert if the decision made in a lower court conflicts with a previous decision of the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court does not grant cert this simply means that it has decided not to review the case.
To manage the high volume of cert petitions received by the Court each year, the Court employs an internal case management tool known as the "cert pool. " Each year, the Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions for certiorari; in 2001 the number stood at approximately 7,500, and had risen to 8,241 by October Term 2007. The Court will ultimately grant approximately 80 to 100 of these petitions, in accordance with the rule of four.
Procedure
Once a case is granted cert, lawyers on each side file a brief that presents their arguments. With the permission of the court, others with a stake in the outcome of the case may also file an amicus curiae brief for one of the parties to the case. After the briefs are reviewed, the justices hear oral arguments from both parties. During the oral argument the justices may ask questions, raise new issues, or probe arguments made in the briefs.
The justices meet in a conference some time after oral arguments to vote on a case decision. The justices vote in order of seniority, beginning with the Chief Justice. Cases are decided by majority rule in which at least five of the nine justices have to agree. Bargaining and compromise are often called for to create a majority coalition. Once a decision has been made, one of the justices will write the majority opinion of the Court. This justice is chosen by either the Chief Justice or by the justice in the majority who has served the longest in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court cannot directly enforce its rulings. Instead, it relies on respect for the Constitution and the law for adherence to its decisions.