Disclosure

The type of appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that Ellen Mariani hopes to pursue is called a Petition For Writ Of Certiorari.  What it is is a legal brief which describes the case and which acts as an application to have the actual appeal heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.  It should be understood that the U.S. Supreme Court does not have to grant such a petition and there is no guarantee that it will do so.  While nominally the chances of this kind of petition being granted are small, it is much more likely to be granted when it involves a matter which significantly affects the public interest, as Ellen Mariani’s case does.  There are a variety of factors which can affect whether or not such a petition is granted and it is hard to say with any certainty what the chances would be in Ellen’s case of the petition being granted.