Between 8,000 and 10,000 cases reach the Supreme Court each year from various federal and state courts, but the Court renders written decisions on only a limited number (87 cases in 2004–2005, 82 cases in 2005–2006, and 68 cases in 2006–2007) on their merits. The rest are dismissed per curiam, meaning that the decision of the immediate lower court in which the case originated (whether it was a state supreme court, a federal court of appeals, or any other court) is left undisturbed.
Interestingly, during the 2006–2007 term, 33 percent of the cases in the U.S. Supreme Court were decided by a narrow 5-to-4 split vote. Not accepting a case does not imply that the Supreme Court agrees with the decision of the lower court. It simply means that the case could not get the votes of at least four justices to give it further attention and consider it on its merits.
The public perception that only the most important cases are accepted and decided by the Supreme Court is not necessarily true. Cases generally get on the Supreme Court docket because at least four justices voted to include the case. The standard used for inclusion is left to individual justices to decide.
Occupying the lowest level in the hierarchy of federal
courts are the district courts, the trial courts for federal cases.