The SCotUS has extremely broad leeway in it's decision making. Any court case can rise to the SCotUS, but the SCotUS also has the power to deny hearing any case

The SCotUS has extremely broad leeway in it's decision making. Any court case can rise to the SCotUS, but the SCotUS also has the power to deny hearing any case it wants. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction (that is, the first court the case must be heard in) in a very narrow set of circumstances defined by the US Constitution (in Article III): "In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction." However, the Constitution goes on: "In all the other cases before mentioned, 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." (More here [0].) So, for state courts (which try violations of state or municipal law, which are the vast majority of cases), you would have your original jurisdiction court (civil court, criminal court, etc.). If the case is appealed, it goes to the state appellate court. If that decision is appealed, it goes to the state supreme court. If that decision is appealed, it goes to the SCotUS. Not all states have both a supreme court and a designated appellate court. Some cities also have their own courts for municipal laws (New York and Chicago both do) but they work the same basic way and I believe they appeal to state appellate courts. For federal courts (which try violations of federal law or that occur on federal land or that cross state lines, but also any trial in Washington, D.C., because the federal government regulates that), you start at the district court[1]. Appeals to that cast go to the circuit court[2], and appeals to that go to the SCotUS. There is no appealing a decision by the SCotUS. It would require an act of Congress, Constitutional Amendment, or a completely different trial where the SCotUS reversed it's prior decision. This has happened, most famously in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) (legalized racial segregation) was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education (1954) [3]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_jurisdiction_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_jurisdiction_of_the_S... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_district_court https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_district_court [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_circuit_court https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_circuit_court [3]: https://money.howstuffworks.com/10-overturned-supreme-court-cases10.htm https://money.howstuffworks.com/10-overturned-supreme-court-...