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Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna
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Question for Steve...it has been my understanding that SCOTUS has the option to hear or not hear cases appealed to them from the lower appeals courts. But it's been my understanding that they weren't required to take all cases where it was apparent that the lower court judge erred, or where there was an inconsistency between how similar cases were adjudicated in different appeals courts. My understanding is that they can still decline to hear a case, even though judicial error or inconsistency is apparent--probably because the issue was not of a level of legal importance to justify the involvement of SCOTUS. Am I right or wrong?
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Rather than do a lot of text quotes, the Rules of the Supreme Court are at
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ctrule...ofthecourt.pdf and most of the rules are less than 1/2 page long.
Rule 10 describes what kind of cases SCOTUS is intended to hear. It's very straightforwarrd and does not give SCOTUS free rein to play in every legal arena,
Rule 14 is concerned with the "Questions Presented for Review." This rule is probably the most important, since it identifies
exactly what question(s) the petitioner believes are issues of law which are either in conflict or so vague as to lead to confusion. To appreciate the significance of the "questions," the following URL is the SCOTUS docket page for the "Hartford Case" being appealed to SCOTUS and which Judge Sotomayor participated in the COA decision. (see:
http://origin.www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/08-328.htm ) The URL gives the case history and identifies the "Questions Presented." Please click the "Questions Presented" to see how limited the questions are. SCOTUS will limit its action to
only answering those questions, as opposed to taking on every possible legal irregularity in the matter.
So, even though there may be a hundred legal irregularities in a case, if the petitioner doesn't present a particular irregularity as a Question Presented For Review, then the "non-questioned" legal irregularity doesn't matter as it in fact is not being appealed.
That's the abbreviated description of how it works.