Q: Why does SCOTUS hear appeals directly from state supreme courts?
Usually, when someone wants to pursue a claim under federal law, they have to begin in a U.S. district court, correct? But when someone has exhausted remedies under state law and now wishes to make an argument from federal law, they're permitted to appeal directly to SCOTUS. Why don't they have to go to a district court first like everyone else?
A:
The decisions over the scope of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court are made by Congress in the U.S. Code. The Constitution gives Congress the power to make thee decisions. See Article III, section 2, ¶2: "the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make."
Title 28 U.S. Code, §1257 gives the U.S. Supreme Court the power to review decisions of "the highest court of a state in which a decision could be had . . ."
So, that is the legal answer to your question.
But, you should understand there are NO direct appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court by anyone anywhere. Review in the high Court is purely discretionary. The party wishing to have review in the high Court must ask for it in a petition for certiorari and the Court can refuse any case it doesn't want to hear. That is, no one has a right to an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. They only have a right to ask the Court to hear their case.
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