After a notice of appeal was filed in the intermediate appellate court, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the district (trial) court certified appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court under 15 U.S.C. §29(b), which gives the Supreme Court jurisdiction to hear direct appeals from the district court in certain antitrust cases initiated by the federal government if "the district judge who adjudicated the case enters an order stating that immediate consideration of the appeal by the Supreme Court is of general public importance in the administration of justice." The states also filed a petition for certiorari before judgment in the Supreme Court, which requested that the Supreme Court hear their appeals from the district court's decision without proceeding first through the court of appeals. However, the Supreme Court declined to hear the federal government's appeal, remanding the case to the court of appeals, and also denied the states' petition for certiorari before judgment.