The Supreme Court

  Supreme Court Discussion

    When reading this article from History Channel on the Supreme Court, certain things were new information and surprised me while other things did not. One of the biggest noteworthy pieces of information I did not know was that the Supreme Court was originally only six members. I knew the Court has not always been constantly set at a solid nine, but I previously believed the Court started with 7 instead of 6. 

    I believe that the most important take away from reading about the Supreme Court is that the Court is 1/3 of our government and has the purpose of not only keeping the Executive (President) and Legislative (Congress) branches in check, but also has a role through Judicial Review, of speaking for the entire country and has the authority to make the proclamation and enforce or dismiss specific claims or opinions on highly controversial topics at the time. My own opinion is that the Court oftentimes reflects public opinion of the time. This can be seen in cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Within just 60 years, the Court went from declaring that the term "separate but equal" was constitutional to declaring that segregating in schools was no longer allowed is a major difference in interpretation in just a couple of generations. 

    The most surprising thing I learned from reading the article was the roles and duties of the Chief Justice. Particularly that the Chief Justice has the power to dictate who will write the majority opinion, when the justice is also a member of the majority for the particular case. I also was not familiar with the Chief Justice presiding over impeachment trials of a President. 

    Overall I believe the Supreme Court is a very important branch of our government and is very unique for a few reasons. The Court is by far the least democratic branch of our government. Compared to Congress or the President where the public either directly or indirectly elects those in power, the Court is purely representative with the two branches we do elect, appoint the justices for us. I also believe the Court has a vital role in stopping overreach from the other two branches of government. One of my concerns, especially in modern times, is the Court unjustly being used for political gain as a partisan approach for as little as five justices in Washington to potentially dictate and force over 300 million Americans into policy that may be extremely unpopular or at least controversial and there is little that can be done to stop it.