Blog Post #2

 

The Supreme Court was established in 1789. The Supreme Court is the highest federal court in the country. The Supreme Court is also the head of the judicial branch of government in the United States. This court has jurisdiction over all laws. It is up to the Supreme Court to rule whether a law is constitutional or not. The Supreme Court also has the power to check the other two branches of the government. The Supreme Court has a duty to make sure the actions of the federal government are constitutional. However the Supreme Court doesn't just rule over the federal government, the court also has a duty to keep the state governments and U.S. citizens in check constitutionally.  

The Supreme Court is currently made up of 9 justices. The justices are nominated by the president and confirmed or denied by the Senate. There are 8 regular justices and one chief justice. The Chief Justice controls the agenda of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice is also expected to sit on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian. 

The Supreme Court doesn't see every case that goes through the judicial system, that wouldn't be feasible. To get a case to the Supreme Court it needs to go through an appeal process, and there must be a petition for the Supreme Court to hear the case. There are many important Supreme Court cases including Roe v. Wade, Obergefell v. Hodges, and Texas v. Johnson. Roe v. Wade ruled that women have a right to abortion, this ruling has since been overturned. Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same sex marriage across all 50 states. Texas v. Johnson ruled that flag burning and other offensive speech is protected by the First Amendment. Although these cases took place years ago they still hold great significance today. The outcome of these cases shifted the entire future of the United States. 

The Supreme Court plays an extremely important role in not only the U.S. government, but society as a whole. Society has changed in drastic ways since the Constitution was first created. The Supreme Court is needed to interpret the older meanings of the constitution and adjust them to rule on modern day cases. The Supreme Court makes social change possible because it gives people the opportunity to disagree publicly with the government or the laws made by the government. With the presence of the Supreme Court we the people feel as though we are heard. 

The videos and the article taught me that the Supreme Court originally had 6 justices. I originally thought that it had always been 9. I also learned that justices are expected to serve on the Supreme Court until retirement or death, they never have to run for reelection. This is an interesting concept because with most other government positions there are set terms of a much shorter length.