The Court may, if it grants leave, hear appeals against pre-trial rulings in criminal cases.

His trial was delayed as he sought treatment for cancer and underwent surgery, and while pre-trial rulings on the charges against him were litigated.

Armstrong sued for libel, and the paper settled out of court after a High Court judge in a pre-trial ruling stated that the article "meant accusation of guilt and not simply reasonable grounds to suspect."

The trial judge refused, and the Georgia Supreme Court, in a pre-trial ruling last July, upheld that decision by a 4 to 3 vote.

Judges may have shaded their pre-trial rulings, for instance, or defendants may be more willing to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences.

After the trial, on November 30, 2011, the court issued an opinion clarifying some of its pre-trial oral rulings.

In practice, taking writs is far more common in criminal matters and most often involves objections to a district court's pre-trial rulings on defense motions to suppress evidence, statements, or identifications.

In a pre-trial ruling, the court limited mention of "battered spouse syndrome" but allowed the defendant to make "an offer of proof of self-defense".

Both sides declared victory over this early pre-trial ruling.

But Judge Paine, in a pre-trial ruling last week, said the reservation's sovereign nation status did not exempt it from Federal laws governing endangered species.