Almost all apex courts get to decide, in whole or in part, which cases they hear. Research into these decisions is handicapped either by the enormous volume of requests, or by the secrecy which surrounds judges decisions. In this paper, I investigate a court which receives a modest volume of applications and decides in a comparatively open fashion. Specifically, I investigate permission-to-appeal (PTA) decisions before the United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC). I test the effects of factors both internal and external to the court, and factors both individual and structural in nature. I test whether the identities of the three judges hearing the application make the application more or less likely to succeed (internal, individual); and whether the workload of the court affects the PTA outcome (internal, structural). I also test whether the volume of applications of defined legal types has an effect on PTA decisions (external, structural) and whether the identity of the litigant seeking PTA matters (external, individual). In particular, I test whether the central government's decision to seek PTA makes it more likely the Supreme Court will hear the case, other factors equal.
