What is the difference between a writ of certiorari and an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court?

What is the difference between a writ of certiorari and an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court?

• A. The Court grants appeals as a matter of course in all cases.
• B. Both are discretionary; there is no difference.
• C. An appeal requires Supreme Court jurisdiction; certiorari can be used for lower court decisions only.
• D. A writ of certiorari is a discretionary grant of review; an appeal is a right to challenge a judgment (where available), but the Supreme Court mostly uses certiorari.

Answer: (D)

The key idea is how the Court gets to review a case. A writ of certiorari is a discretionary grant of review. The Supreme Court receives petitions asking it to hear a case, and it decides whether to grant review—typically only a small fraction of petitions—based on factors like federal importance, conflicts among the lower courts, or significant constitutional questions. An appeal, by contrast, is a path to challenge a judgment as a matter of right where the law provides one, but the Supreme Court does not accept appeals as a general rule. In practice, the Court mostly uses certiorari to select cases rather than hearing routine appeals, so most of its review comes through certiorari rather than an automatic right to appeal.