How to use the Supreme Court filing deadline calculator
A last appeal in the United States looks different from the Korean route, where a party files a notice of final appeal and then has twenty days from notice that the record arrived to file the grounds. Review by the Supreme Court is discretionary: a party first petitions for a writ of certiorari, and merits briefing only starts if the petition is granted.
Days are counted with the day of the triggering event excluded, and a deadline that falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday is met by filing on the next business day. This calculator's dates automatically shift for weekends only - always check the Court's calendar for federal holidays that could push a deadline further.
Authority: Supreme Court Rule 13.1 (Sup. Ct. R. 13.1) sets 90 days from entry of the judgment for a petition for certiorari, and Rule 25 sets 45 days for the petitioner's merits brief, 30 days for the respondent's and 30 days for a reply, subject to the cutoff before argument. Rule 13.5 allows a Justice to extend the petition time for good cause in limited circumstances. Stated as of September 2026.
This calculator is for reference only and is not legal advice. The Court's own rules and any order in your case control, so confirm dates with the Clerk's office and a licensed attorney before filing.
Frequently asked questions
It can. Where a timely petition for rehearing is filed in the lower court, the time to seek certiorari generally runs from the denial of rehearing or from a later judgment on rehearing rather than from the original decision, which is why the trigger date matters as much as the period.
An application to a Justice may extend the time to file a petition for good cause, and such applications are expected well before the deadline. Extensions are not routine and the merits briefing schedule is usually set by the Court once review is granted.