Because the Supreme Court hears only a small percentage of the cases in which its review is sought (and in many cases, parties do not even seek Court review),1 most litigation over the meaning of the Constitution does not reach the High Court. This leaves many constitutional matters to be decided by the lower federal courts and, in particular, the thirteen federal courts of appeal.2 State courts can also play a significant role in construing the U.S. Constitution and any comparable provisions in the state's constitution.3 While many cases come to the Supreme Court directly from state courts of last resort,4 state courts usually have the last word on the meaning of state law.5 Given the statutory requirement to annotate the Supreme Court's constitutional decisions, as well as considerations of space, the Constitution Annotated makes only limited references to lower court decisions. As a general rule, such decisions are not included unless they are particularly influential or address significant issues not addressed by the High Court.
Intro.1.2.3.1 What Is Included and Sourced in the Constitution Annotated: Lower Court Decisions Overview
Footnotes
- Jump to essay-1See , Explaining the Supreme Court's Shrinking Docket, 53 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1219, 1225 (2012) (
Since the 2005 Term, the Court has decided an average of 80 cases per Term
out of potentially thousands of petitions). - Jump to essay-2As Justice Byron White once explained,
there is not just one Supreme Court in this country, there are 12 regional Supreme Courts [and the specialized Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit] . . . . For all practical purposes, the development of the federal law is very much in the hands of the 13 circuit courts of appeals.
See , Enlarging the Capacity of the Supreme Court, in The Federal Appellate Judiciary in the Twenty-First Century 145, 145 (Cynthia Harrison & Russell R. Wheeler eds., 1989). - Jump to essay-3See , Do Judicial Elections Facilitate Popular Constitutionalism; Can They?, 111 Colum. L. Rev. Sidebar 27, 28 (2011) (
Moreover, state courts play a major role in interpreting and enforcing the Federal Constitution, and, perhaps more importantly, state courts are often at the cutting edge of recognizing rights that will eventually spill over into the national constitutional discourse.
). - Jump to essay-4See The Supreme Court 2018 Term, The Statistics, 133 Harv. L. Rev. 412, Table II(E) (2019) (noting that, during the October 2018 term, 15 of the 106 cases disposed of by the Supreme Court came from state courts).
- Jump to essay-5State court decisions that are based on federal constitutional law are subject to Supreme Court review. See Klinger v. Missouri, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 257, 263 (1871); see also Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1043 (1983).