[Ricky B]

I now understand your point, but I must tell you that it is you who misunderstands.

The terms "petition for writ of certiorari" and "appeal" have very specific meanings in Supreme Court practice and are not the same. An appeal to the Supreme Court is a request for review as a matter of statutory right in that a federal statute gives the appellant the right to have the lower court decision reviewed. All other cases for review are heard by way of petition for writ of certiorari, the granting of which is discretionary with the court and not a matter of right.

As a practical matter (as opposed to "technically," which I said in my original post), the two are the same. The Supreme Court only issues opinions in about 200 to 250 cases per year. It receives thousands of appeals as well as thousands of petitions for writ of certiorari each year (probably tens of thousands in all). There is no way the court can do its job if it can't pick and choose, which it does.

And the selection mechanism is the Rule of Four, which you mentioned. If four justices don't vote to hear the case, it is affirmed automatically, whether by appeal or petition for writ of certiorari. Cases affirmed automatically by denial of a hearing are not Supreme Court precedent.

By the way, the Supreme Court can hear cases that have not been appealed as it has original jurisdiction in some cases, but that is not pertinent to issues here.