Post #2: The History and Workings of the U.S. Supreme Court

"The Supreme Court of the United States remains the most powerful judicial body on earth."

From watching the two videos regarding the U.S. Supreme Court, I became more familiar with what their job specifically entails and the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Summary

The U.S. Supreme Court began to form as a result of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and nine justices are appointed by the current president during the time period. The role of the Supreme Court includes: safeguarding liberty, preserving the union, and upholding the rule of law. The videos state that although they are trained in law, they handle human dilemmas. Many justices serve for sixteen years, or even longer, before switching out for new justices. 

In 1801, the government moved to Washington, D.C. and the Supreme Court was given temporary headquarters in the capitol that wasn't finished yet back then. Around the same time, a young lawyer named John Marshall was appointed as Chief Justice. Under his ruling, the court declared for the first time in history that overturning an act of Congress was unconstitutional. John Marshall left a lasting impact on the Constitution and led the new Supreme Court to be shown more respect to the public. Around approximately twenty years pass by and the Supreme Court ran into a massive slavery problem. Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney ruled that, "Congress had no power to ban slavery, and that blacks could never be citizens." The problem was fixed and the Constitution was altered to abolish slavery, define citizenship, and granted voting privileges. 

In today's world, the Supreme Court receives over 7,000 cases a year. A certiorari, an order in which the court reviews a decision of the lower court, are most of the cases that are sent in to the Supreme Court. The court then meets weekly to decide which cases they are going to accept and which they will not. 

The lawyers on the opposing sides in a case have a thirty minute time slot to make their arguments before the Supreme Court. After hearing both arguments, all nine of the justices meet in their conference area to vote on the case. Once they vote and decide, a justice on the majority side must write an opinion which states the legal reasons for their vote. 

Reflection

The U.S. Supreme Court was something very interesting to learn more about since I wasn't very familiar with it before watching the videos. The most important takeaway from these videos is how the nine justices can uphold laws they find constitutional and decline laws that they don't approve. After watching the videos, I view the Supreme Court in a more positive way as they ensure that our laws that we are supposed to follow are constitutionally correct. Without the U.S. Supreme Court, America wouldn't be as regulated if we didn't have our laws reviewed by the justices.