writ of certiorari

The word certiorari comes from Law Latin, meaning "to be more fully informed." A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it. The writ of certiorari is a common law writ, which may be abrogated or controlled entirely by statute or court rules. This also means that the court is often not under any obligation to hear the petitioned cases.

Certiorari is generally associated with the writ that the Supreme Court of the United States issues to review a lower court's judgment. A case cannot, as a matter of right, be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. As such, a party seeking to appeal to the Supreme Court from a lower court decision must file a writ of certiorari.

In the Supreme Court, if four Justices agree to review the case, then the Court will hear the case. This is referred to as "granting certiorari," often abbreviated as "cert." If four Justices do not agree to review the case, then the Court will not hear the case - this is referred to as “denying certiorari.”

The U.S. Supreme Court will grant a writ of certiorari to cases that have national significance and precedential value that harmonize different rulings in the federal and state courts. The Court typically accepts 100 to 150 cases out of the more than 7,000 cases that file a petition every year. The cases usually come from an appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals, or the highest court in a state (in limited situations). Some of the considerations are outlined under Rule 10 of Supreme Court Rules.

There are four primary types of appropriate and effective petitions for a writ of certiorari. The first type is a direct appeal in a federal criminal case.

• If a defendant is dissatisfied with the ruling from a District Court, they may petition to the Court of Appeals for review. If they are still dissatisfied with the ruling, they may request the U.S. Supreme Court review the case.

The second type is a petition to a state’s higher court after denial by a lower court.

• Like the federal system, most states have a similar system that allows someone charged with a crime to appeal in an appellate court. They may then submit a petition for a writ of certiorari to the state’s highest court if they are dissatisfied with the outcome in the appellate court.

The third type is an appeal from the highest state court in a state criminal case.

• In this case, even if the case does not start in a federal court, the defendant can petition for a writ of certiorari for an opportunity for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. This also provides an extra opportunity for the defendant that has exhausted all state judicial procedures to once again review the case.

The fourth type is a petition after a writ of habeas corpus is lost in a district court.

• If a district court denies a defendant’s writ of habeas corpus, the defendant does not have an automatic right to appeal to the U.S. Circuit Courts. Rather, they must first file a request for a Certificate of Appealability from the district court that heard the writ. If denied, they must file a Certificate of Appealability from the Circuit Court before filing the writ with the Circuit Court.

[Last updated in July of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]

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