Discussion Groups / English Usage / June 2010

"certiorari" is, to me, the most likely meaning.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/certiorari

   a writ of superior court to call up the records of an inferior court

If the Supreme Court refuse to issue a writ of certiorari it is in
effect refusing to examine the decision of the inferior court (in this
case the Fifth Circuit court).

As the others in the thread have indicated, this is correct.  The
United States Supreme Court has, at the moment, very few cases that it
must, by law, decide.  It did not start out that way: in the first
century of the Court's existence, most of its docket was appeals "as a
matter of right".  But once the United States Courts of Appeals were
created, which relieved the justices of their duty to "ride circuit",
it was recognized that there was no need for the Supreme Court to hear
every case -- so long as the Circuit Courts had all come to the same
conclusion, there was nothing for the Supreme Court to add.  So, after
some lobbying by the Court, Congress eliminated much of its mandatory
jurisdiction.  The losing party in the Court of Appeals -- or in their
state's highest court -- may petition the Supreme Court for a writ of
certiorari, which historically directed the lower court to send its
files on the case to the Supreme Court for review.  (Today the
petitioner is required to include nearly everything with the initial
petition, but the writ remains the same.)

There are still a few matters for which statute provides
appeal-as-of-right to the Supreme Court, including questions of
election law which are decided by a panel of three district judges.
There are also a very few matters for which the Supreme Court has
exclusive and original jurisdiction, notably disputes between the
states.

Coincidentally, today the Court announced its final four decisions of
the October term.  Tomorrow it will release a final set of orders and
then rise until the first Monday in October.

-GAWollman