<P> The opinion of the Court is usually signed by the author; occasionally, the Supreme Court may issue an unsigned opinion per curiam . The practice of issuing a single opinion of the Court was initiated during the tenure of Chief Justice John Marshall during the early 19th century . This custom replaced the previous practice under which each Justice, whether in the majority or the minority, issued a separate opinion . The older practice is still followed by appellate courts in many common law jurisdictions outside the United States . </P> <Dl> <Dd> For more specific details on how cases are cited, see case citation . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> For more specific details on how cases are cited, see case citation . </Dd> <P> Supreme Court decisions are typically cited as in the following example: "Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)." The court citation consists of the names of the opposing parties; the volume number; "U.S." (signifying United States Reports, the official reporter of Supreme Court decisions); the page number on which the decision begins; and the year in which the case was decided . The names of the opposing parties are listed in the format "Petitioner v. Respondent" or "Appellant v. Appellee ." The Reporter of Decisions is responsible for publication of the Court's rulings . Two other widely used citation formats exist: the Supreme Court Reporter and the Lawyers' Edition, corresponding to two privately published collections of decisions . Citations to cases in the Supreme Court Reporter would be structured as follows: Snowden v. Hughes, 64 S. Ct. 397 (1944). Citations to cases in the Lawyers' Edition would be as follows: Snowden v. Hughes, 88 L. Ed . 497 (1944). Judicial opinions often use the citation from all three sources (the United States Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, and Lawyers' Edition), as seen here: Martin v. Texas, 200 U.S. 316, 26 S. Ct. 338, 50 L. Ed . 497 (1906). Since the 1930s, prior to publication of the decisions in these reporters, they are available from the United States Law Week (U.S.L.W.). In more recent years, opinions have been available electronically soon after they appeared on commercial sites such as Lexis or Westlaw, on Internet sites such as FindLaw and on the Court's own website . </P>

Why does the supreme court declines to hear most of the cases brought to it