Guides
How the Supreme Court publishes its work
Short, factual explainers. No commentary on any case.
- When does the Supreme Court release opinions?
How and when the U.S. Supreme Court issues its opinions, why most big decisions arrive in May and June, and how to hear about each one the moment it posts.
- What is an "October Term"?
Why Supreme Court terms are named for the October they begin in, when a term starts and ends, and how to find every decision from a given term.
- What is a statement respecting the denial of certiorari?
Cert petitions, the rule of four, and why a Justice's statement or dissent about a denied petition is not a decision of the Supreme Court.
- What is a Supreme Court emergency application?
What the Supreme Court's emergency docket is, how applications are numbered and decided, and how these rulings differ from merits decisions.
- How to read a Supreme Court opinion
The parts of a Supreme Court opinion (syllabus, opinion of the Court, concurrences, dissents) and how a slip opinion becomes part of the United States Reports.
- How SCOTUS Alerts works: sources, labels, and speed
Where SCOTUS Alerts gets its data, how each kind of Supreme Court writing is labeled, how alert speed is measured, and how to report a mistake.