When an appellate level court -- be it the Supreme Court of Kansas or the Kansas Court of Appeals -- considers cases, those cases are scheduled on a "docket," or listing, of cases for a particular day. Many, but not all, of those cases receive "oral argument," in which attorneys representing the parties in a case have a limited amount of time to make an oral presentation to the court about the issues of fact or law that the attorneys believe are most persuasive. Oral arguments also give the judges considering the case the opportunity to ask questions or seek clarification from the attorneys. When oral argument is finished, the case is considered "submitted" to the court. If a case is not argued, it is considered "submitted on briefs." In either event, the court then has the opportunity to review the issues in the case and reach a decision.

To see days the Supreme Court has reserved for arguments, monthly dockets, and daily dockets of cases scheduled for argument, including the briefs that have been filed in those cases, click here: Supreme Court dockets and argument schedule. Also included on the Supreme Court's docket pages are summaries of the cases scheduled; these typically are posted in the week before arguments.