Rule 317 Appeals from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court as of Right

(Revised 1979) This rule provides, in the language of the Constitution (art. VI, §4 (c)), for appeals as of right from the Appellate Court in cases in which ``a question under the Constitution of the United States or of this State arises for the first time in and as a result of the action of the Appellate Court.” The procedure in such cases will be similar to that provided in Rule 315 for petitions for leave to appeal, except that the petition need only contain argument as to why appeal lies to the Supreme Court as a matter of right. Prior to the adoption of this rule effective January 1, 1967, such appeals were taken by notice of appeal. (See former Rule 32(3).) The experience of the Supreme Court was that this procedure was often invoked improperly, a fact which the court would not usually discover until full briefs on the merits were filed and the case was scheduled for oral argument. The time of counsel and of the court is saved by giving the court an opportunity to determine this preliminary question on the basis of a petition filed in advance. The rule was amended in June 1970 (a) to make mandatory the provision that if leave to appeal is to be sought in the alternative to appeal as of right, the requests for both alternatives are to appear in the same petition, and (b) to provide expressly that if there are requests for both an appeal as of right and an appeal by leave, the court will dispose of both requests in a single order. In 1979, Rule 342 was amended to provide that, with the exception of stated documents (see Rule 342(a)), no portions of the record shall be reproduced, and that, absent an order of the reviewing court, no abstract shall be prepared and filed. The last sentence of Rule 317 was amended to reflect this change in the practice. See the committee comments to Rule 342.