Appeal Process in the Supreme Court in the U.S

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According to the NHSC (2007), every State Supreme Court is composed of the Chief Justice and four associate justices who sit in Concord and is the state’s only appellate court.

The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review appeals from the State trial courts and from many State administrative agencies with original jurisdiction to issue writs of certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus, and other writs. It is the duty of the Supreme Court to correct errors in trial court proceedings, interpret case law and statutes, and the state and federal constitutions and administrators of the courts (NHSC, 2007).

Beginning January 2004, the Supreme Court has accepted the vast majority of appeals from the State’s trial courts that include the family division and the district, probate, and superior courts. A timely appeal from a final decision of a trial court is a “mandatory appeal,” automatically accepted by the court. A few exceptions are listed in the definition of “mandatory appeal” in Supreme Court Rule 3 where the parties generally are given the opportunity to submit a transcript of the lower court proceedings and to file written briefs. After the briefs have been filed, the Supreme Court decides whether the case should be scheduled for oral argument or decided on the briefs alone. The court then issues a final decision, which may be a brief order, an order with some explanation, or a full written opinion (NHSC, 2007).

Administrative appeals, interlocutory appeals and interlocutory transfers, petitions for original jurisdiction such as petitions for writs of habeas corpus, and appeals from the decisions of the trial courts in a few types of cases are “discretionary appeals,” of which the Supreme Court may decide, in its discretion, to refuse the cases for review. After acceptance of a discretionary appeal, it follows the same process as a mandatory appeal, i.e., preparation of a transcript, briefings, oral argument, if necessary, and final decision (NHSC, 2007).

The appeal process and procedure are set forth in the Supreme Court Rules and administrative appeals may often be governed by statutory requirements. It is important to review the Supreme Court Rules and applicable statutes in filing an appeal with the court (NHSC, 2007).

After reviewing a case, the court determines whether oral argument would be helpful in deciding the case and the case is then assigned to be heard by the full court or a three-justice panel (3JX). Cases generally involve fewer issues or issues in which the applicable law is settled. The short written decision which must be unanimous is issued in each case usually within two months of argument (NHSC, 2007).

Cases assigned to the full court are decided after oral argument by written opinion or an explanatory order and oral arguments are scheduled periodically throughout the year (NHSC, 2007).

Types of Cases

Cases from the superior court, the probate court, and the district courts are entered upon the filing of an interlocutory transfer without ruling, an interlocutory appeal with the ruling, or upon the filing of a notice of appeal after a decision on the merits. Likewise, cases from administrative agencies shall be entered upon the filing of an interlocutory transfer without ruling or upon the filing of an appeal by petition. Cases that request the Supreme Court to exercise its original jurisdiction are entered upon the filing of a petition. Cases entered from courts by reserved cases and bills of exceptions are entered by interlocutory transfers without ruling, by interlocutory appeals with the ruling, or by notices of appeal, as the cases may warrant. Cases entered from courts and administrative agencies by certification of questions of law are entered by interlocutory transfers without ruling. Cases entered by the Governor and Council or by either house of the legislature as requests for advisory opinions are entered as requests of the respective bodies (NHSC, 2007).

Procedural Rules

Docketing the Case: Filing the Record

In an appeal from a trial court decision on the merits pursuant to Rule 7, the party appealing shall pay the entry fee prescribed by the Supreme Court, unless differently provided by law. In an interlocutory appeal, the plaintiff shall pay the entry fee prescribed by the supreme court and the clerk of the trial court will provide a copy to the judge and master. In all criminal appeals and appeals from an administrative agency, the appealing party simultaneously files 1 copy of the notice of appeal with the attorney general (NHSC, 2007).
The court may upon motion waive payment of the entry fee in exceptional circumstances. In any criminal case where the defendant is indigent and wishes to have counsel appointed to represent him, a petition for assignment of counselor for continued assignment of counsel and supporting affidavit of indigency shall be filed in this court at the time of filing (NHSC, 2007).
A case may be docketed under the title given to it previously, or the supreme court may process and report the case under a new name or names.
If the moving party shall fail to cause timely docketing of the case or transmission of the record or to pay the entry fee if one is required, the case shall be dismissed.
Non-compliance with Supreme Court procedural rules may incur a person filing a case assessed of any postage or copying costs incurred by the clerk’s office in obtaining compliance with these procedural rules (NHSC, 2007).

Describe the process by which a bill becomes law

While the general process for making a bill into a law is described in the Constitution, the Constitution leaves most of the details to the people of the day, dictating just the overall picture. The first step is that a bill must pass both houses of Congress by a majority vote. After it has passed out of Congress, it is sent along to the President. If the President signs the bill, it becomes law (Mount, 2006).

However, if the President does not sign the bill, or specifically rejects the bill called a veto, the bill returns to Congress where it is voted on again. If both houses of Congress pass the bill again with a two-thirds majority, then the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. Called “overriding a veto”, this is quite rare because of the two-thirds majority requirement (Mount, 2006).

If the President takes no action at all, and ten days pass, not including Sundays, the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. But if Congress has adjourned before the ten days passes without a Presidential signature, the bill fails and is known as a pocket veto (Mount, 2006).

The process laid out in the Constitution is relatively complicated when it comes to vetoes, but pretty simple when it comes to approving a bill. But in reality, there is a lot more to law-making than these steps spelled out in a clause of the Constitution (Mount, 2006).

Submitting a Bill

Bills originate from several different sources, but primarily from individual members of Congress or might be brought to a member by a constituent or by a group of constituents. Likewise, a bill may be submitted to a member of Congress by one or more state legislatures, or the President or his administration might suggest a bill (Mount, 2006).

However it is brought to the attention of a member, it must be submitted for consideration by the member. In the House, Representatives need merely drop a copy of a bill into a bin specifically placed to receive new bills. In the Senate, the bill is given to a clerk at the President’s desk (Mount, 2006).

Committees

Both houses of Congress, the House, and the Senate are divided into large groups called Committees handling general topics in the nation’s business, like Finance or the Military, with most committees divided yet again into Subcommittees. Subcommittees are even more specialized than tackle Military Nuclear Weapons, and another on Military Pay. Bills concern specific topics like raising the minimum wage (Mount, 2006).

House Procedure

In the House, a bill approved by a committee is referred to the whole House and referred to the so-called Committee of the Whole consisting of all members of the House but with a much lower quorum requirement. Once in the Committee of the Whole, it is read and debated upon for a time. When the time for debate is up, a second reading is done where amendments, including undesirable ones called “poison pill”, to the bill may be offered, debated upon, and voted upon. Once the Committee of the Whole is done with the bill, it is referred back to the full House (Mount, 2006).

They can be voted upon en masse or one at a time of which two votes can happen – either a vote to recommit that send the bill back to the committee if approved, or a vote on the bill, as amended called a full vote. If a bill passes, it is organized and published and the House uses blue paper for approved bills(Mount, 2006).

Senate Procedure

When a bill is referred to the full Senate, it can take a simple voice of the Senate, and the bill either passes or fails. The amendment is possible even when the simple voice vote can be used but when consent for a voice vote is not available, the bill is placed on the calendar for review by the entire Senate at a later date (Mount, 2006).

If no objection is noted on the bill, each Senator has five minutes to speak where amendments may be offered. But if the objection was offered, then each Senator has the opportunity to speak on the bill for as long as he or she wishes, a delaying tactic, and an effective tool for stopping action on an item, or for forcing compromise on an item. After all, amendments are offered and voted upon, the bill is put forth for a vote (Mount, 2006).

Conference

After a bill leaves the House and the Senate, it must be checked the two versions of the bill are checked for any difference even as minor as punctuation, and the bill must be reconciled. The house in which the bill originated is given a copy of the bill with its differences. For minor changes, they might be accepted by the originating house with no debate but if changes are of a more substantial nature, a conference is called for where a number of representatives and a number of Senators meet to work out the differences in the two versions of the bill. The people in the conference committee are known as managers. Changes must be consistent with the bill itself.

On to the President

By the time the President officially sees the bill, it is either in accordance with his wishes or in defiance of them with the 10-day clock ticking. The President may sign the bill at any time after its deliverance and it becomes a law.

The Bill Becomes Law

The law is transmitted to the Archivist of the United States where he assigns the law a number, publishes the law on its own, as a pamphlet known as a slip law, a historical document in itself (Mount 2006). The law is also published in the United States Statutes at Large, a collection of all laws passed in any given Congress. And if a law affects the U.S. Code, it is added to the Code, striking out sections or clauses that a law removes, and adding new ones the law created. The U.S. Code is republished every six years (Mount, 2006).

Reference

New Hampshire Bar News. (2007). “Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of New Hampshire”. Hampshire Supreme Court, New Hampshire Bar News.

Mount, Steve. (2006). “Constitutional Topic: How a Bill Becomes a Law.” The US Constitution Online.

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