Final answer:
Of the thousands of cases presented to the U.S. Supreme Court each year, fewer than 100 are typically heard, and these can include cases from state supreme courts when there are substantial federal questions or legal inconsistencies.
Step-by-step explanation:
How Many Cases Come from State Supreme Courts to the U.S. Supreme Court?
While exact figures can vary from year to year, it is known that the U.S. Supreme Court selects a very small fraction of cases for review. Of the thousands of cases it is asked to review annually, typically fewer than one hundred are accepted, and this includes cases appealed directly from state supreme courts. Most of these are selected through a writ of certiorari, which means that the Supreme Court is exercising its authority to review the decisions of lower courts when there are significant federal questions or inconsistencies in the interpretation of laws.
State courts handle the vast majority of America's litigation, with approximately 90 percent of all cases. However, only a small number of cases from state supreme courts end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, as it functions mainly as a court of last appeal and only chooses certain impactful cases to establish or clarify federal law and constitutional principles.
Since the Supreme Court can choose which cases to hear, the ones it accepts from state supreme courts generally involve substantial constitutional questions or issues where there has been divergence in the application of federal law across different jurisdictions.