ABSTRACT
This chapter describes about Certiorari, there are three primary types of writs—writs of appeal, similar to the old writs of error, which the Court must hear as a matter of right; writs of certification, in which courts are asked to answer a question of law in which a lower court seeks instructions; and writs of certiorari. The most writs are appealed from decisions by US Circuit Courts of Appeal, but in cases involving "federal issues" (cases arising under the Constitution or federal statutes), such writs may also be filed from state supreme courts. The right of appeal is a basic civil liberty designed to serve as a guard against mistakes or injustices in lower courts and as a means of providing for general uniformity in a federal system. However, without the ability to turn down appeals it considers frivolous or otherwise lacking in merit that writs of certiorari provide, the Supreme Court would be overwhelmed.
