809.51.Rule (Supervisory writ and original jurisdiction to issue prerogative writ).

Some disputes cannot wait for an ordinary appeal, or do not fit the appeal process at all -- a court acting outside its authority, for instance, or a decision that needs correcting before real harm occurs. Section 809.51 gives a person a way to bring that kind of problem directly to the court of appeals by petitioning for a supervisory writ or asking the court to exercise original jurisdiction to issue a prerogative writ. The petitioner must serve the petition, and any supporting memorandum, on every party, every proposed respondent, and, where applicable, the originating court or tribunal, using traditional service methods. The petition and memorandum together cannot exceed 35 pages, or 8,000 words in proportional serif font, and the petitioner has to name as respondents not just the court or judge (or other person or body) but also every other party in the underlying action.

The petition itself must lay out the issues, the facts necessary to understand them, the relief sought, and the reasons the court should take jurisdiction. Once the clerk dockets it, the court has options: it can deny the petition outright without asking for a response, or it can order the respondents to answer with their own supporting memorandum, within the same length limits, and possibly order oral argument. Respondents get 14 days after service of that order to respond, though a respondent who does not intend to answer can instead file a letter saying so -- without that silence counting as an admission of the petition’s claims.

After weighing the petition, any responses, memoranda, and argument, the court may grant or deny the petition or order whatever additional proceedings it thinks appropriate, and it may award costs and fees against any party. Anyone filing a petition or response under this section must certify the document’s word or page count.