Answer: E- The large majority of cases the Supreme Court hears are appeals from cases already heard in lower courts. These lower courts can be either federal or state courts, but a significant majority of Supreme Court cases come from federal courts. On average, the Supreme Court hears only one or two original (not appellate) cases per year, and even most of those are sent to a special court so the Supreme Court doesn’t have to directly deal with them.
The Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction includes the power to reverse or modify a lower court's decision. Appellate jurisdiction exists for both civil law and criminal law. In an appellate case, the party that appealed the lower court's decision is called the appellate, and the other party is the appellee.
