SCOTUS - procedures + appointment of Ketanji Brown

Question 1

1. controversy + court of appeals

Answer 1

case must have made its way through court of appeals unless the court has original jurisdiction.

if you’ve lost all previous appeals but believe you have a cause worthy of SCOTUS, you can petition for a writ of certiorari though there is no guarantee this will work.

when the petition is granted, it goes into a cert pool where judges decide if they want to rule on it or not.

4/9 justices must agree to hear it before successful.

Question 2

2. legal arguments

Answer 2

if successful, both parties in a case must submit briefs (written arguments from each side) so both petitioner and respondent have to present their legal arguments.

Question 3

3. amicus briefs

Answer 3

these are additional briefs that aren’t from the individual proponents of the case but are from supporters of a particular side - they contain legal, economic, historical arguments that may persuade justices and appear in their opinions.

Question 4

4. scheduling oral arguments

Answer 4

court schedules oral arguments with each side getting 1/2 hour to present case - justices use this time to question them also.

Question 5

5. majority opinion

Answer 5

in order for the court to render an official decision, 5/9 justices must agree on at least one of the legal arguments that affirms/overturns the lower court’s decision.

this becomes the majority opinion.

there doesn’t have to be unanimous agreement - if a justice agrees with the holding in a majority opinion, but for different legal reasons, they write a concurring opinion.

Question 6

6. heavy disagreement with majority opinion

Answer 6

if justice is on the losing side and doesn’t agree with the majority opinion, they could write a dissenting opinion which doesn’t set the precedent for a lower court, and has no force of law, but often are very eloquent and provide arguments that may persuade later courts in similar decisions.

Question 7

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Answer 7

April 2022 - Ketanji Brown Jackson earned bipartisan (narrow) support to become the 116th justice of SCOTUS.

after a 11-11 SJC tie, the Senate voted 53-47 in favour of her - all Democrats supported her, and Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins also supported her, defying deep opposition within the Republican Party to support Biden’s nominee.

she is the first black woman to serve on SCOTUS and will continue the 6-3 SCOTUS divide.