The Supreme Court Blog #2

The Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court is vital for our government, and is used to protect and uphold the values of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the United States, and even the most powerful judicial body in the entire world. With ultimate jurisdiction over all federal cases and state cases that involve any point of the U.S. Constitution or federal law. The Supreme Court has the ability to draw boundaries on government power, limiting the president and states telling them what they can and can't do. John Marshall established the idea of Judicial Review, with the court looking to the Constitution to solve national problems.  

 What I found interesting from these videos was the idea that "The Supreme Court is made of people, not disembodied spirits." It's interesting to think that 9 justices interpret a 200 year old Constitution, in a continuously evolving society, and deal with immense controversy. Justices respect one another's good faith in trying to achieve the overall objective. I was shocked to hear that thousands of petitions are put into the hands of the court each year, and hundreds of cases are done a week. I learned each petition receives equal and individual consideration. The justices only come together once a week to decide on what cases will be brought to the Supreme Court and seek further evaluation. This idea makes me wondering what cases are turned away and what happens with those and the people involved.

Each Supreme Court justice serves on average 16 years, but for many even more. The most time consuming part of their job is the opinion writing, which is a process I never knew about. One justice from the majority side will write out the opinion, and then each justice will make edits. Even if majority agrees on something, the opinion writing can affect whether or not the decision on the case will stand. The Chief Justice, who currently is John G. Roberts Jr, deals with establishing the weekly agenda and overseeing trials against the President like impeachment. I feel as if I gained a lot more knowledge on how much work goes into being on the Supreme Court behind the scenes.