When the FBI Comes Calling…®

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and is located in Washington, D.C. It is comprised of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The President nominates justices with the advice and consent of the Senate. Justices serve for life.

A "term" of the Supreme Court begins on the first Monday in October. Usually Court sessions continue until late June or early July. The term is divided between "sittings," when the Justices hear cases and deliver opinions, and intervening "recesses," when they consider the business before the Court and write opinions. Sittings and recesses alternate at approximately two-week intervals during a term.

In order for a case to be heard by the Supreme Court, a Writ of Certiorari must be filed. This document requests that the Supreme Court review the records of a lower court, usually a circuit Court of Appeals , and reevaluate the lower court's decision. Unlike other courts, the Supreme Court is not required to hear a case. It can deny the Writ, and allow the lower court's opinion to "stand," meaning that the lower court's decision is final.

With rare exceptions, each side is allowed 30 minutes argument and up to 24 cases may be argued in a term. Since the majority of cases involve the review of a decision of some other court, there is no jury and no witnesses are heard. For each case, the Court has before it a record of prior proceedings and printed briefs containing the arguments of each side.

McNabb Associates is licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and has extensive experience in handling Writ of Certioraris.

Learn more about the Supreme Court at its official site and at the Supreme Court Historical Society site.