How do I petition the U.S. Supreme Court?

Supreme Court petitions in short

• A petition for a writ of certiorari (people say “cert”) asks the Court to take your case. It is not an appeal the Court must hear.
• The Court looks for “compelling reasons,” such as two courts splitting on the same federal question. Rule 10 lists them, and it says a petition is rarely granted to fix a wrong fact finding.
• The deadline is 90 days after the judgment, counted from the judgment and not from the mandate. A timely rehearing petition in the lower court restarts the count.
• A Justice can extend the deadline by up to 60 days, for good cause, if you apply at least 10 days before it runs out. The rule says extensions are “not favored.”
• Rule 14 sets the parts of the petition and their order. Rule 33 sets the format and the word limit.
• Extraordinary writs (mandamus, prohibition, habeas corpus) are a separate, narrower path under Rule 20.

What is a petition for a writ of certiorari?

It is the paper you file to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision you lost. You do not get the writ by asking; the Court has to grant your petition. The first sentence of Rule 10 of the Rules of the Supreme Court reads: “Review on a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion. A petition for a writ of certiorari will be granted only for compelling reasons.”

The numbers show what that means in practice. The Chief Justice’s 2025 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary reports that 3,856 cases were filed in the Supreme Court in its 2024 Term, and that 73 cases were argued. The gap between those two numbers is the point.

So a petition is not a second appeal. It is an argument that your case raises a question the whole country needs answered, and that the Court should spend one of its few argued cases on it.

Which cases can the Supreme Court review?

Which statute applies depends on the court that decided your case.

The state-court road has two traps. First, the judgment must be final, and it must come from the highest state court that could decide your case. If your state’s supreme court had a chance to review it and you skipped that step, you are not there yet. Second, § 1257(a) reaches only the federal questions it lists. A state-law issue alone, however important to you, does not fit. Under § 1257(b), the District of Columbia Court of Appeals counts as a state’s highest court. And Rule 14.1(g)(i) makes a state-court petition show when and how the federal question was raised below and how the state courts ruled on it.

What does the Supreme Court look for in a petition?

Rule 10 lists the kinds of reasons the Court considers. It says they are “neither controlling nor fully measuring the Court’s discretion,” but they show what the Court means by a compelling reason. In plain words:

Then comes the sentence most people need to read twice. Rule 10 ends: “A petition for a writ of certiorari is rarely granted when the asserted error consists of erroneous factual findings or the misapplication of a properly stated rule of law.”

So “the court got my facts wrong” or “the court applied the right rule badly” is usually not enough. Rule 10 points instead to conflicts between courts and to conflicts with the Supreme Court’s own decisions.

What is the deadline to file a cert petition?

The deadline is set by Rule 13 and by statute. Miss it and the petition is over before it starts: Rule 13.2 says “The Clerk will not file any petition for a writ of certiorari that is jurisdictionally out of time.”

• The basic rule. Rule 13.1: a petition to review a judgment of a state court of last resort or a federal court of appeals “is timely when it is filed with the Clerk of this Court within 90 days after entry of the judgment.” For civil cases, 28 U.S.C. § 2101(c) sets the same ninety days.
• When state supreme court review was discretionary and denied. Rule 13.1 also says that if you are seeking review of a lower state court’s judgment that was subject to discretionary review by the state court of last resort, the petition is timely when filed “within 90 days after entry of the order denying discretionary review.”
• The clock starts at the judgment, not the mandate. Rule 13.3: the time runs “from the date of entry of the judgment or order sought to be reviewed, and not from the issuance date of the mandate.” Do not wait for the mandate to start counting.
• Rehearing restarts it. Also Rule 13.3: if a petition for rehearing is timely filed in the lower court by any party, the time for everyone runs from the date rehearing is denied, or, if rehearing is granted, from the later judgment.
• Extensions. Rule 13.5: “For good cause, a Justice may extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari for a period not exceeding 60 days.” It “must be filed with the Clerk at least 10 days before the date the petition is due, except in extraordinary circumstances.” The rule ends: “An application to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari is not favored.”

What must a cert petition contain?

Rule 14.1 says a petition “shall contain, in the order indicated” these parts. In plain words:

1. The questions presented. Short, not argumentative, not repetitive. They go on the first page after the cover, and nothing else may appear on that page. The Court considers only the questions set out or “fairly included therein.”
2. The parties and related cases. A list of all parties in the court whose judgment you want reviewed, a corporate disclosure statement if Rule 29.6 requires one, and a list of directly related cases in state and federal courts, each with the court, docket number, caption and date of judgment.
3. A table of contents and a table of authorities. Required when a booklet petition runs over 1,500 words. The table of contents includes the items in the appendix.
4. Citations of the opinions below. The official and unofficial reports of the opinions and orders entered in your case.
5. A statement of jurisdiction. The date of the judgment, the date of any rehearing order, the date and terms of any extension, and the statute that gives the Court jurisdiction (for example § 1254(1) or § 1257(a)).
6. The provisions involved. The constitutional provisions, statutes and regulations involved, quoted word for word with citations. If they are long, cite them here and put the text in the appendix.
7. A statement of the case. The facts that matter to the questions. For a state case, where and how the federal question was raised and ruled on below. For a federal case, the basis for jurisdiction in the trial court.
8. The reasons for granting the petition. Rule 14.1(h) calls it “a direct and concise argument amplifying the reasons relied on for allowance of the writ,” and points back to Rule 10. This is where you show the split, the conflict, or the importance.
9. The appendix. The opinions and orders below, any rehearing order, the judgment, and anything else essential to understand the petition, in the order Rule 14.1(i) lists.

Three more rules catch people. Rule 14.2: there is no separate brief in support; every argument goes inside the petition, and “the Clerk will not file any petition for a writ of certiorari to which any supporting brief is annexed or appended.” Rule 14.4: failing to present what is essential “with accuracy, brevity, and clarity” is “sufficient reason for the Court to deny a petition.” And Rule 14.5 gives one second chance: if the Clerk finds a petition filed on time and in good faith is in the wrong form, the Clerk returns it with a letter, and a corrected petition submitted no more than 60 days after that letter is treated as timely.

What format and word limit apply to a petition?

A paid petition is printed as a booklet under Rule 33.1. Other formats apply in some cases; read Rule 33 to see which applies to you. For the booklet, the rule sets out the following.

What counts toward the 9,000 words. Rule 33.1(d) leaves out the questions presented, the list of parties and the corporate disclosure statement, the table of contents, the table of cited authorities, the listing of counsel at the end, and the appendix. Footnotes count. Word-for-word quotations of the provisions involved, if set out in the body, do not count. You can ask to exceed the limit, but the rule says such an application “is not favored” and it must reach the Clerk at least 15 days before your filing date.

What is an extraordinary writ, and when does it apply?

Rule 20 covers a different kind of petition: one asking the Court itself to issue a writ, such as mandamus, prohibition or habeas corpus. The power comes from 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), which lets the Supreme Court “issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.”

Rule 20.1 sets the bar, and it is high. Issuing such a writ “is not a matter of right, but of discretion sparingly exercised.” The petition must show three things, all of them:

• that the writ “will be in aid of the Court’s appellate jurisdiction”;
• “that exceptional circumstances warrant the exercise of the Court’s discretionary powers”; and
• “that adequate relief cannot be obtained in any other form or from any other court.”

The rule does not define “exceptional circumstances” with a list. What it does make plain is the third point: if another court can give you the relief, or another kind of filing can, the extraordinary writ is the wrong tool.

An extraordinary writ petition is captioned “In re [name of petitioner],” follows the form of a cert petition under Rule 14 “insofar as applicable,” and is prepared under Rules 33 and 34 (Rule 20.2). The booklet word limit is the same 9,000 words. The petition must be served as Rule 29 requires; serving it is your job, not the software’s.

How do I file a cert petition, step by step?

1. Fix the deadline first. Count 90 days from the judgment or the rehearing order (Rule 13). Any extension request goes in at least 10 days early.
2. Confirm the Court can hear it. Section 1254(1) for a federal court of appeals; § 1257(a) for a final judgment of the highest state court that could decide it, on a federal question raised below.
3. Find your Rule 10 reason. A conflict between courts, or a conflict with a Supreme Court decision, on an important federal question.
4. Write the questions presented. One page, short, not argumentative.
5. Build the petition in Rule 14 order. Every part, in order, with the appendix.
6. Format and count. The Rule 33.1 booklet, 9,000 words or fewer, with the word-count certificate.
7. File and serve as the rules require. File with the Clerk and serve the other parties under Rule 29.

More questions about Supreme Court petitions

Rules and statutes cited on this page

Sup. Ct. R. 10, 13, 14, 20, 33 (2026) · 28 U.S.C. § 1254 · 28 U.S.C. § 1257 · 28 U.S.C. § 1651 · 28 U.S.C. § 2101(c)

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