The Supreme Court

 

The supreme court as we know it today did not start off as powerful as it has grown to be. At first, the court was not well respected but this all changed in 1801 when John Marshall was appointed Chief Justice. He changed in the court in a major way during the Marbury versus Madison chase. During this case the court was given the power of judicial review, this power would forever change the court and make a powerful institution. It did not come without faults though, we saw this when the court decided that Congress had no right to outlaw slavery and that African Americans were not citizens, this desicion wounded the Court.

The supreme court is a very important part of the United States democracy. The Court is the highest federal court and consists of nine judges who are selected by the president, and then confirmed by the Senate, and serve a term of life. It has the job of evaluating if laws are constitutional and only takes on about 100 cases of thousands that come in each year. The new cases are brought to the judges once a week, where the judges evaultae the case and meet once a week to decide which cases they will accept and discuss the cases already taking place. The denial of a case often gets misinterpreted as the court upholding or ordering that verdict when they did not do that. 

Each case that is brought to the court and accepted is argued in public in a time limit of thirty minutes for the lawyer of each side. Each judge asks questions to bring about points that will hopefully lead to a decision. They attempt to pick out the one issue of that case that is of national significance in hopes to solve that issue. Within days the court gathers to vote on the case, and once it is decided one of the justice writes an opinion to explain their decision. Overall the courts a major power within our governmental system and has gathered this power over the years through many cases.

https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts