Abstract
The Supreme Court's certiorari process does more than help the Court parse through thousands of "uncertworthy" claims—the Court's process creates an affirmative barrier to justice for parties like Indian tribes and individual Indians. The Court has long maintained that the certiorari process is a neutral and objective means of eliminating patently frivolous petitions from consideration. But this empirical study of 163 preliminary memoranda, recently made available when Justice Blackmun's papers were opened, demonstrates that the Court's certiorari process is neither objective nor neutral. The research, reflecting certiorari petitions filed during October Term 1986 through 1993, demonstrates that statistically, there is a near zero chance the Supreme Court will grant a certiorari petition filed by tribal interests. At the same time, the Court grants certiorari to far more petitions filed by opponents of tribal sovereignty.
How to Cite
51 Ariz. L. Rev. 933 (2009)
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