Did you know, That Supreme Court justices serve for around 16 years or longer
Maybe it's just because I'm young and that is 84% of my life but that's a BIG commitment taking into account where you're working, the literal end all be all of some of these people's but anyway, let's talk about some history and workings of the Supreme Court
Major Historically Events:
John Marshall Wiki
Presidents always try to shape the court by their nominations and the President at the time, Thomas Jefferson was having trouble finding people who wanted to be appointed to the position
Everyone wanted to be in the Senate, where the money was and still is today
Eventually, he found John Marshall who agreed to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Marshall comes to the court and wants to increase the power and prestige of the court because all branches of law are supposed* to be equal
For background information, they were in the basement
And he got to, innnnnn (drum roll please)
Madison vs Marbry Wiki
In this case, blah blah blah, legal things, but the main take away is that Judicial Review was established
Judicial Review was basically the power of the court to review all actions of all departments of govt and deem them constitutional or not
The court elevated itself and given itself the power to have the last word on everything
Under John Marshall's leadership, the court made the constitution "an effective instrument for nation building" and earned a lot of respect as a "coequal branch of government".....that was until....
Dred Scott Case Wiki
Dred Scott was a slave whose master took him to an anti slave state and sued under the terms that he couldn't be a slave in an anti slave state
The Constitution wasn't good at these situations because the southern states were holding the northern states hostage
The President wasn't going to be any help because he and his had slaves
Basically, in the end, Roger Brook Tonny said “African Americans are not citizens”
Upsetting A LOT of Americans
It wasn't resolved until after the civil war in the 14th Amendment and was considered
"The court's great self inflicting wound"
They called the 14th Amendment the Second Bill of Rights because while the first one protected citizens from federal power, this one protected individuals from excessive state power
That's the major historical bits but here's how the Supreme Court works today
Workings of the Supreme Court
Receiving Cases
They receive over a hundred new cases a week, but take into consideration only about 100 a year
Addressing Cases
When addressing cases they do look at, their main job is to ask and determine "Did the court apply the law properly and is it constitutional"
Working as a Team
While the Supreme Court Justices all share different opinions and stand by different things, in the end they all have one objective and respect each other's commitment and strive to fulfil that one objective
The Trial
They hear cases in public with opposing lawyers given 30 minutes to speak their side in an oral argument while the supreme court asks questions along the way
Deciding the Trial
Once they hear the arguments, they all get into a room together and decide on a decision
Written Opinion
Once they've come to a conclusion, someone from the majority side writes the opinion on why the court came to the decision it did, the legal side of it anyways
Finalizing the Opinion and Releasing it to the Public
Once drafted, written, rewritten, agreed upon, etc, it's released to the public for the press to summarize and rerelease to the common public what the court did and how it affects millions of Americans
The trust that the people of the public have in the supreme court justice to maintain balance and justice keeps this system flowing the way it does.
A lot of useful info can be found here at the Supreme Court's Website
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