Not every law practice will submit cases to the Supreme Court. There are specific rules surrounding the cases that the highest court will accept. One rule is that the case has already had to have gone through all the courts below it, including federal district courts. Only after that has happened can a law office think about submitting the case to the SCOTUS. Then the law office has to submit a brief to the court for the justices to consider looking at the case. Four of the justices have to vote to hear the case before they will hear it. Very few cases actually make it through this process. All of those rules make it very important that the briefs that are submitted to the court follow the SCOTUS's rules about what those briefs should look like.  

Booklet Cover Colors

When briefs are submitted, they need to be printed out. But that's not enough. On top of being printed out and bound into booklet form, the covers of the booklets need to be a certain color depending on what the brief is about. For example, an amicus curiae needs to have a cream cover, while a supplemental needs a tan cover. Before a law office submits a brief booklet, they are going to need to make sure that are enough copies and that the word count falls within the target range. 

Paper

The paper that goes into those booklets has to be very specific paper. It must be 60-pound weight paper, that is unglazed and 6 1/8 inches by 9 1/4 inches. If those requirements aren't met, then the brief will be sent back immediately without the court even looking at the case. 

SCOTUS Printers

Following all the rules around any submission to the Supreme Court can be difficult. One way to make sure that a law practice is meeting those requirements is to work with a printer that prints out a lot of these briefs. They are going to be familiar with the rules of the SCOTUS and will make sure to mark that your case is for the Supremes, meaning that they will be careful to make sure that all of your documents are going to be within all the requirements required by the court. 

The law offices that do submit cases to the Supreme Court need to make sure that they are following all the rules. Any document that gets submitted to the court that doesn't meet the rules will automatically be rejected, which can slow down the process of getting the Supreme Court to hear the case. 

To learn more about Supreme Court brief printing, contact a professional today.