A petition for certiorari before judgment, in the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, is a petition for a

writ of certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

in which the Supreme Court is asked to immediately review the decision of a

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

, without an appeal having been decided by a

United States Court of Appeals United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

, for the purpose of expediting the proceedings and obtaining a final decision. Certiorari before judgment is rarely granted. Supreme Court Rule 11 provides that this procedure will be followed "only upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this Court." A writ of certiorari before judgment may be granted only in federal cases, and is not necessary in those cases where a statute authorizes a direct appeal from a District Court to the Supreme Court. Well-known cases in which the Supreme Court has granted certiorari before judgment and heard the case on an expedited basis have included '' Ex parte Quirin'' (1942), '' U.S. v. United Mine Workers'' (1947), '' Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer'' (1952), '' U.S. v. Nixon'' (1974), '' Dames & Moore v. Regan'' (1981), ''

Northern Pipeline Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co. ''Northern Pipeline Construction Company v. Marathon Pipe Line Company'', 458 U.S. 50 (1982), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Article III jurisdiction could not be conferred on non-Article III courts (i.e. cour ...

'' (1982), ''

U.S. v. Booker ''United States v. Booker'', 543 U.S. 220 (2005), is a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court decision on criminal sentencing. The Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Sixth Amendment rig ...

'' (2005), ''

Department of Commerce v. New York ''Department of Commerce v. New York'', No. 18–966, 588 U.S. ___ (2019), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States dealing with the 2020 United States Census. The case concerned the decision of the United States Census Bureau ...

'' (2019), and ''

Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson ''Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson'', 595 U.S. ___ (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case brought by Texas abortion providers and abortion rights advocates that challenged the constitutionality of the Texas Heartbeat Act, a law that outla ...

'' (2021).Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson, No. 21-463
In '' U.S. v. Windsor'' (2013), both sides filed petitions for certiorari before judgment, but it was only granted ''after'' judgment by the

Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate jur ...

List of petitions granted

The Supreme Court granted certiorari before judgment only three times between 1988 and 2004, and zero times from then until February 2019. Since 2019, the court has granted certiorari before judgment in more cases.

Notes

References

*S. Shapiro et al., ''Supreme Court Practice'' (BNA Books, 10th ed. 2013), section 2.4 {{reflist Supreme Court of the United States United States appellate procedure

List of petitions granted

See also

Notes

References