Short answer. Unless the Court sets the case for oral argument or requires memoranda, it is deemed submitted for decision once the comments on the petition are filed, or once other required or allowed pleadings are filed, or once the period to file them has simply expired.
What the law says
Unless the Court sets the case for oral argument, or requires the parties to submit memoranda, the case shall be deemed submitted for decision upon the filing of the comments on the petition, or of such other pleadings or papers as may be required or allowed, or the expiration of the period to do so.
Rule 64, Section 9 — Submission for decision. Read the full provision →
The default submission point
Once the round of pleadings closes — typically with the filing of the comments on the petition, or any other pleadings the Court required or allowed — the case is deemed submitted for decision by default, without any further procedural step or action needed to trigger that status. No separate motion or manifestation from either party is required to formally mark the case as submitted; the status attaches automatically once the required filings are in, which keeps the case moving toward resolution without additional procedural friction or the need for either party to prompt the Court into action.
What if a party never files?
Submission does not depend on every party actually filing something. If the period given for filing comments or other pleadings simply expires without a filing, the case is still deemed submitted for decision at that point, so silence, inaction, or delay by a respondent does not indefinitely postpone resolution. This protects the petitioner from a respondent who might otherwise stall the case indefinitely simply by declining to file a comment, and it keeps the Supreme Court's own docket moving on a predictable, foreseeable timeline rather than one dictated by an uncooperative party.
When the default is overridden
This automatic submission only applies if the Court has not set the case for oral argument or required memoranda from the parties. If either of those steps is ordered, the case is not deemed submitted until that additional process — the argument or the memoranda — has actually taken place. The Court retains this discretion for petitions raising issues complex or significant enough to warrant a fuller hearing than the pleadings alone would provide, before treating the matter as ripe and ready for a final decision. None of this shortens the time the parties actually have to file their comments or other required pleadings in the first place; the automatic-submission rule only fixes what happens once that period has run its course, whether through timely filing or through simple inaction, rather than compressing the filing period itself.
Related provisions
- Rule 64, Section 9 — Submission for decision
- Rule 64, Section 6 — Order to comment
- Rule 64, Section 7 — Comments of respondents