The U.S Supreme Court

The U.S Supreme Court: Did you know? 

    The U.S Supreme Court can seem like this daunting authority that all U.S citizens must follow without thought or reason. But that may only be the case because we don't know the all of the facts and history of this powerful part of our government. I will do my best to help you better understand the Supreme Court so it will no longer be as intimidating for you!  

   When doing my research on this topic I used 2 informative videos; Supreme Court, Pt. 1 and Supreme Court, Pt. 2 to give me the correct information. Videos are a valuable resource if one has the time and interest in the topic. Of course not everyone has 20 plus minutes to sit and watch these so I will be giving my break down for you all today. 

  There are nine justices on the Supreme Court and their job is to interrupt the U.S constitution while staying impartial when answering the publics petitions, arguments, and checking their fellow government counterparts wrongdoings. A justice is appointed to the Supreme Court by being appointed by a President but they will continue to serve after that president's term as there is no term limited, their are those who serve for longer than 20 years.  The Supreme Court is one of the most powerful parts of our government from because of the fact that they can shout down not only Congress but as well as the President. 

  The Supreme Court has a long history behind it, but it wasn't until James Marshall's term when he shot down an act of Congress as unconstitutional. He set out to make sure the court follows and honors the constitution in their rulings, this brought public acceptance. 20 years later, Dred Scott declared his independence through an act of Congress but under Roger Brooke Taney leadership the court declared that "Blacks could never be citizens." This ruling weakened the public's respect for the Court for years. 

The Supreme court don't have a chose in what cases they will be discussing, though they are given thousands of cases every year they select only a few that they deem is dyer to the nation. When a problem or issue "comes knocking" they have "no choice but to answer." During a public hearing, lawyers are given 30 minutes to state their case and argue their point. The justices will ask the lawyers questions, once it is all over the Court will use what they were given to come up with a ruling. After the hearing they come together and vote, once a voting is over one justice will write up an opinion. An opinion can take 4 weeks to draft up and that draft will be sent to all of the justices, in the following weeks the other 8 justices will review. The justice who wrote the opinion will make revisions and adjustments to accommodate different views. All opinions for current cases should be released to the press by late June. 

Before watching these videos I had no idea just how powerful and important the Supreme Court is for our government. Being appointed as a Justice of the court is a remarkable feat and they are given the opportunity to withhold the values of our nation, one justice even comparing the experience to "Being struck by lightning." I know have adeeper understanding and aprecation for those who are apart of the Supreme Court.