[Lurking Libertarian]

My understanding is most cases never get a conference.

Every case is "listed" for a conference-- it couldn't be denied otherwise. See Supreme Court Rules 15(5), 16(3).

[visually_augmented]

Lurking:”Every case is “listed” for a conference— it couldn’t be denied otherwise.”

Do you understand what “conference” means?? Obviously not all cases presented to the Judges go to conference. Conference is when all (or most of) the judges meet and discuss the eligibility of the case. To get to conference, one of the judges must accept the case to conference.