Selection and decision are separate stages. A petition argues that the Court should hear the case; it is not the full merits briefing that follows a grant. If review is granted, the parties file additional briefs, amici may participate, the Court may hear oral argument, and the justices conference and prepare opinions. Under the traditional Rule of Four, four justices can vote to grant certiorari. A majority of the participating justices ordinarily controls the decision on the merits. Confusing the vote to accept a case with the vote to decide it is a frequent exam trap.

Suppose two federal courts of appeals interpret the same statute differently. The Court may grant review to resolve the conflict and provide one national rule. If it denies review, each lower judgment remains in place for the parties and within its existing precedential reach. The denial does not approve either court's reasoning, decide the federal issue on the merits, or create a Supreme Court precedent. Many considerations affect docket selection beyond whether the lower court was correct, and most appellate judgments therefore never receive Supreme Court review.

The Court also controls the scope of the question it decides. A case may contain several claims, yet the justices can grant review on a narrower issue. The holding that resolves that issue binds lower courts; separate concurring or dissenting reasoning does not become a majority holding merely because it is influential. The next chapter develops those opinion types and the role of precedent.

Article III also gives the Court original jurisdiction in limited categories, but original cases form a small part of its work. Most cases reach it through appellate review after proceedings elsewhere. The Court can decide only a proper case within its jurisdiction; it cannot issue an advisory opinion because officials or citizens consider a constitutional question important. Keep hierarchy and access separate: being the highest federal court means its holdings bind lower courts, not that it must hear every appeal or rebuild the factual record developed in a trial court.

For a CLEP scenario, ask whether the issue is access, authority, or effect. Certiorari concerns access to the docket. Original or appellate jurisdiction concerns authority to hear the case. A majority opinion's holding concerns the effect on lower courts. Those three questions use different rules.

Video lesson: Structure of the Court System: Crash Course Government and Politics #19