United States Supreme Court Rules: Petitions, Briefs, and Oral Argument

The Supreme Court rules of procedure are the self-governing standards the Justices use to control how every case moves through the nation’s highest court, covering who may appear as counsel, how to ask the Court to hear a case, what filings must look like, how oral argument is conducted, and what happens after a decision issues. The current rules took effect on March 16, 2026, and apply uniformly to every litigant and attorney.¹ What follows walks through the rules a party or lawyer actually has to work with, in the order they come up.

Who Can File and Argue

Before an attorney can file anything with the Court in a representative capacity, they must be admitted to the Supreme Court Bar. Rule 5 requires that the applicant have been admitted to practice before the highest court of a state, territory, or the District of Columbia for at least three years, be in good standing with no adverse disciplinary action during that period, and demonstrate good moral and professional character. A certificate from the clerk of that lower court confirming admission and current standing must accompany the application.²

Two current members of the Supreme Court Bar who personally know the applicant, and who are not related to the applicant, must sponsor the application by signing statements about the applicant’s qualifications and character.² The admission fee is $200.¹ Approved applicants may be admitted on a written motion submitted to the Clerk or on an oral motion during a regular Court session.³

Rule 9 governs how counsel appears on a filing. The attorney whose name and contact information appear on the cover is treated as counsel of record, and that person must be a Supreme Court Bar member. Other bar members may be listed as additional counsel.⁴ Parties who cannot afford a lawyer may qualify for appointed counsel under Rule 39, which also waives certain filing fees. The Court can appoint counsel for indigent parties in cases set for oral argument and will reimburse necessary travel expenses.⁵ A party may represent themselves pro se; Rule 9 allows a pro se party’s name and address to appear where counsel of record normally would, and Rule 39 directs the Clerk to make due allowance for pro se filings while still requiring compliance with the substance of the rules.

Getting the Court to Hear the Case

Almost every case reaches the Court through a petition for a writ of certiorari, which asks the Justices to review a lower court’s decision. Under Rule 13, the petition must be filed within 90 days after the lower court enters its judgment. A Justice may extend that deadline by up to 60 days for good cause.⁶

Granting certiorari is entirely discretionary. Rule 10 lists the factors the Justices weigh, though none are controlling:⁷

Circuit splits, where two or more federal appeals courts have reached conflicting decisions on the same important question, or a federal appeals court conflicts with a state high court.
Unresolved federal questions the Supreme Court has not yet addressed.
Lower-court rulings that clash with an existing Supreme Court decision.
Serious procedural departures warranting the Justices’ supervisory power.

The Court receives roughly 7,000 to 8,000 petitions each term and grants fewer than 80. A petition that simply argues the lower court got the facts wrong, without raising one of these broader legal concerns, almost never succeeds.

What a Petition and Merits Brief Must Contain

Rule 14 prescribes exactly what a certiorari petition must contain and in what order: the questions presented for review, a list of all parties, a table of contents and table of cited authorities (if the petition exceeds five pages), a statement of the basis for jurisdiction, and a concise statement of the case laying out the facts relevant to the questions presented.¹⁸

Once certiorari is granted, the parties shift to merits briefing under Rule 24. A merits brief must include a summary of the argument and a statement of the case with references to the joint appendix or the record.⁹

The Joint Appendix

After a grant, the parties assemble a joint appendix under Rule 26 that collects the key parts of the lower court record: the relevant docket entries, any pertinent pleadings or opinions, and the judgment under review. The petitioner normally files it within 45 days after the order granting certiorari. To build it, the petitioner serves a designation of record parts within 10 days of the grant, and the respondent then has 10 days to designate additional parts. The Clerk may alternatively allow a deferred method under which the appendix is filed within 14 days after the petitioner receives the respondent’s merits brief.¹⁰

Word Limits, Formatting, and Cover Colors

Rule 33 imposes strict word limits on every type of filing. The limits count footnotes but exclude the questions presented, party lists, tables of contents and authorities, and any appendix:¹¹

Certiorari petition or brief in opposition: 9,000 words
Reply to a brief in opposition: 3,000 words
Merits brief (petitioner or respondent): 13,000 words
Reply brief on the merits: 6,000 words
Amicus brief at the petition stage: 6,000 words
Amicus brief on the merits: 8,000 or 9,000 words, depending on the filer’s identity

Two formatting tracks exist. Most filed documents must follow the booklet format under Rule 33.1: a 6⅛-by-9¼-inch booklet printed in Century-family 12-point type with 10-point footnotes, on opaque paper weighing at least 60 pounds, with margins of at least three-quarters of an inch on all sides. Text appears on both sides of the page, and the document is bound along the left margin.¹ The second track, Rule 33.2, allows standard 8½-by-11-inch paper for certain filings, including those submitted in forma pauperis. Those documents must be double-spaced and stapled at the upper left-hand corner.¹¹

One distinctive feature of Supreme Court practice is the color-coded cover system in Rule 33.1. Each type of booklet-format document requires a specific cover color. A certiorari petition gets a white cover, a brief in opposition gets orange, a petitioner’s merits brief is light blue, a respondent’s merits brief is light red, and a reply brief on the merits is yellow. Amicus briefs use cream at the petition stage and shades of green on the merits. Any document filed by the Solicitor General on behalf of the United States gets a gray cover.¹²

Separately, Rule 34 specifies what must appear on every cover: the docket number, the Court’s name, the case caption, the nature of the proceeding, the name of the lower court, the document’s title, and the name and contact information of counsel of record.¹³

Filing, Service, and Fees

Rule 29 governs how documents reach the Court and the opposing parties. All filings must be submitted to the Clerk in paper form. A document is timely if the Clerk receives it within the deadline or if it is mailed through the U.S. Postal Service with a postmark on or before the last day for filing. Commercial carriers work too, provided the package is handed over for delivery within three calendar days.¹⁴

Every filing must also be served on all other separately represented parties. Booklet-format filings require three copies to each opposing party; 8½-by-11-inch filings require one. An electronic version must be transmitted to all other parties at or around the time of filing, unless the filer is proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, or the other party’s electronic address is unknown despite reasonable efforts.¹⁴

Rule 38 sets the Court’s fee schedule:¹

Docketing a case or certiorari petition: $300
Filing a petition for rehearing: $200
Reproducing and certifying a record or paper: $1 per page
Certificate bearing the Court’s seal: $10
Returned check: $35

Parties granted in forma pauperis status do not pay these fees. Payments are made payable to the Clerk. The Clerk reviews every submission for compliance before distributing it to the Justices, and non-compliant filings may be returned for correction.

Amicus Curiae Briefs

Outside parties who are not directly involved but have a strong interest in the outcome can file amicus curiae briefs under Rule 37. An amicus brief may be filed with the written consent of all parties, and parties often submit blanket consent letters to the Clerk. If any party withholds consent, the amicus must ask the Court for permission by filing a motion bundled with the proposed brief. Certain government filers never need consent or permission: the Solicitor General for the United States, an attorney general of any state, and authorized legal officers for cities or counties.¹⁵

Timing depends on the stage. At the petition stage, an amicus supporting the petitioner must file within 30 days after the case is docketed or a response is called for, whichever comes later. An amicus supporting the respondent must file within the same window allowed for the brief in opposition. At the merits stage, the brief is due within seven days after the supported party files its own brief. No extensions are granted for amicus filings at either stage.¹⁵

Oral Argument

Under Rule 28, each side gets 30 minutes of oral argument. The petitioner argues first and typically reserves a few minutes for rebuttal after the respondent finishes. Requests for additional time must be made by motion well before argument day, and the Court rarely grants them.¹⁶

Only one attorney argues per side unless the Court grants a motion for divided argument, and the rules say plainly that divided argument is not favored. Any request to split time between multiple lawyers must explain specifically why the case requires it.¹⁶ Questions from the bench consume most of the allotted time, and counsel must be ready to discuss the lower court record and the real-world consequences of the proposed ruling.

Applications for Stays

When a party needs to freeze a lower court’s judgment while seeking review, Rule 23 governs stay applications. The applicant must first try to get a stay from the lower court before coming to a Justice; the Supreme Court will not entertain the request otherwise, except in the most extraordinary circumstances.¹⁷

The application must explain in detail why relief is not available from any other court, identify the judgment at issue, and lay out specific reasons justifying a stay. A copy of the lower court’s order and opinion must be attached, along with any order denying the stay below. A Justice may condition the stay on the filing of a bond with an approved surety, guaranteeing that the full judgment plus costs, interest, and delay damages will be paid if the applicant ultimately loses.¹⁷

After the Decision

Once the Justices decide, the case travels back to the lower court for enforcement. Rule 45 handles this process. In cases reviewed from state courts, the mandate issues 25 days after the judgment is entered, unless a Justice shortens or extends the time or the parties agree it should issue sooner. For cases reviewed from federal courts, no formal mandate issues unless specially directed. Instead, the Clerk sends the lower court a copy of the opinion and a certified copy of the judgment.¹⁸

A party who believes the decision contains a significant error may file a petition for rehearing under Rule 44 within 25 days of the judgment. The petition must include a certificate from counsel (or from the party, if unrepresented) stating that it is presented in good faith and not for delay.¹⁹ Filing a rehearing petition automatically stays the mandate until the Court disposes of it. The $200 fee applies unless waived.¹ Rehearings are granted only in rare cases involving substantial intervening circumstances.

If the parties settle or otherwise resolve the dispute on their own, Rule 46 allows voluntary dismissal. All parties sign a written agreement specifying how costs will be handled and pay any outstanding Clerk’s fees, and the Clerk enters the dismissal without further involvement from the Justices. If the parties cannot agree on terms, either side may file a motion to dismiss, and the other side gets to respond before the Court decides.²⁰

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Supreme Court of the United States. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rules Rule 5 – Admission to the Bar
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Supreme Court of the United States. Supreme Court Bar
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Supreme Court of the United States. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rule 39 – Proceedings In Forma Pauperis
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 13 – Review on Certiorari: Time for Petitioning
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 10 – Considerations Governing Review on Writ of Certiorari
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rule 14 – Content of a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rule 24 – Briefs on the Merits: In General
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 26 – Joint Appendix
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 33 – Document Preparation: Booklet Format; 8 1/2- by 11-Inch Paper Format
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Supreme Court of the United States. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rule 34 – Document Preparation: General Requirements
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 29 – Filing and Service of Documents; Special Notifications; Corporate Disclosure Statement
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 37 – Brief for an Amicus Curiae
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rules Rule 28 – Oral Argument
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Legal Information Institute. Rule 23 – Stays
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rules Rule 45 – Process; Mandates
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rules Rule 44 – Rehearing
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Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rules Rule 46 – Dismissing Cases