When must I seek rehearing of a Supreme Court merits decision?

Identify entry of the Court’s judgment or decision on the merits.

Do not substitute the lower-court judgment, mandate issuance or the date a copy reached counsel.

Read any actual order shortening or extending the time. If the challenged act is a certiorari or extraordinary-writ denial, use Rule 44.2 instead.

1. Use entry of the Supreme Court’s merits judgment or decision. Check any order shortening or extending the period.
2. Exclude the established trigger day.
3. Count 25 calendar days.
4. Apply Rule 30.1 final-day adjustment.
5. Complete the required filing by that date.

Supreme Court Rule 30.1 excludes the trigger day and includes every intermediate calendar day. For periods shorter than seven days it excludes intermediate closed days. Each fixed period reviewed here is at least seven days.

This count supplies the ordinary filing period only. Rule 44.1 allows the Court or a Justice to change the time; a pending request does not establish an extension.

If the final day is Saturday, Sunday, a federal legal holiday listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103 or a Court-building closure ordered by the Court or Chief Justice, Rule 30.1 continues the period to the next day that is none of those. Check actual Court closure orders. The calculator does not infer additional closures.

Fictitious example

Fictitious entry of a Supreme Court merits judgment on August 24, 2026. No order changes the ordinary Rule 44.1 time. Exclude the established trigger day, August 24, 2026. Counting 25 calendar days reaches September 18, 2026. The final day is an open weekday.

Fictitious facts and dates. No different schedule, additional Court closure or extension is assumed.

Certification

Present the petition with certification by counsel or the unrepresented party that it is in good faith and not for delay. Attach the certificate to each copy and meet the signature requirement.

Copies and fee

Rule 44.1 ordinarily requires 40 copies and the Rule 38(b) fee. In-forma-pauperis proceedings follow the specified different copy requirements.

Responses and amici

Rule 44.3 permits a response only when requested by the Court. Rule 44.5 prohibits amicus briefs supporting or opposing rehearing.

No consecutive or untimely petitions

Rule 44.4 directs the Clerk not to file consecutive petitions or petitions out of time.

Decision on relief

Rehearing is not subject to oral argument. Rule 44.1 states the majority and concurring-Justice requirements for granting it. A timely calculation does not predict relief.

• The calculator counts the encoded default period after an established trigger. It does not determine jurisdiction, party alignment or the effect of a particular order.
• Check the Court’s docket, actual directions and proof of the required act.

• Identify the actual merits judgment or decision and entry date.
• Check any Court or Justice time change.
• State rehearing grounds briefly and distinctly.
• Prepare the signed good-faith certificate and attach it to every required copy.
• Check the applicable fee, copies and pauper status.
• File and serve the petition, and check separate mandate effects.
• Rule 29.2 distinguishes timely paper receipt, qualifying USPS postmark, commercial-carrier delivery and proper electronic submission. Under the March 2026 rule, electronic timeliness requires the paper copies to be delivered or mailed by a specified method within three days. Rule 29.7 and the current guidelines impose additional electronic-submission requirements for represented filers and identify exceptions. Filing with the Court does not itself transmit the document to other parties.
• Check represented-filer electronic requirements and paper-copy requirements. The March 2026 guidelines exempt specified sealed and privacy-sensitive filings from electronic submission.
• Preserve both filing and separate service evidence.