Question

Which statement about a writ of certiorari issued by the Supreme Court is most accurate?

a. The Supreme Court will only grant a writ of certiorari to cases involving federal laws.
b. A writ of certiorari requires state courts to abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court.
c. A writ of certiorari indicates that the Supreme Court will review the decision of a lower court.
d. The writ of certiorari has been used in only a few cases over the past decade.
e. The rule of five requires that at least five Supreme Court justice vote in favor of issuing a writ of certiorari.

Answer 1

The most accurate statement is that a writ of certiorari indicates that the Supreme Court will review the decision of a lower court. The Supreme Court can choose to review significant constitutional questions and issues involving federal law or conflicts in lower court decisions, using the 'Rule of Four' to grant certain petitions.

Step-by-step explanation:

Among the options given, the most accurate statement regarding a writ of certiorari issued by the Supreme Court is that a writ of certiorari indicates that the Supreme Court will review the decision of a lower court. This means that the Supreme Court has decided to hear the case and will order the lower court to send up the record of the case for judicial review. Ruling out the incorrect options, the Supreme Court does not limit its writs of certiorari to only cases involving federal laws, as it may also review state cases that present significant federal questions.

The notion that a writ of certiorari requires state courts to abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court is misleading; while state courts must adhere to the Supreme Court's interpretations of federal law, this adherence is not due to the issuance of a writ of certiorari but rather to the role of the Supreme Court as the highest judicial authority in the U.S. legal system. Moreover, it is not true that only in the past decade the writ of certiorari has been sparsely used, as this process is a standard procedure for the Supreme Court to decide which cases to hear. Lastly, the statement regarding the 'Rule of Five' is incorrect because it actually requires only four justices (the Rule of Four) to vote in favor of granting a writ of certiorari.

To clarify the process further, the Supreme Court exercises discretion in the cases it chooses to review and usually selects cases that present significant constitutional questions, important issues of federal law, or the need to resolve conflicting decisions among lower courts. The 'Rule of Four' is a long-standing tradition in the Supreme Court and not a formal part of the Court's written procedures; it allows four justices to grant a certiorari petition and add a case to the Court's docket.