What are the types of cases that are tried by the Supreme Court?
Technically, most cases are “tried” at the district court level. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court “hear” cases when one side or the other appeals a trial verdict. . As a result, you won’t find appellate courts hearing evidence and judging questions of fact (did he do it or didn’t he, in other words), they consider questions of law. . For example, the Supreme Court might consider the question of whether a defendant’s confession is admissible, but only very rarely would consider whether that confession was true or not. . They would not take testimony from witnesses; they would rely on the transcript from the trial. If they found that they didn’t have enough information to make a decision, they’d sent it back for a new trial. . There is a narrow range of issues where the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction — where cases don’t have to wind their way through the lower courts. The most significant of those are cases where a state is one of the parties.
