Supreme Court

 

After watching the video about the history of the supreme court I was intrigued to read the article to find out more. In 8th grade I took a trip to Washington D.C. and I saw the Supreme Court but I did not take in the importance of it. Together the article and video allowed me to see how the supreme court is very important in maintaining how the country is. The supreme court has the position as the highest level of court in the country and it also leads the judicial branch of the US government. There are a total of nine supreme court justices who serve their position until they choose not to or they pass away. They also have the possibility of being impeached during their time as a justice. It is just as rare to be elected as a supreme court justice as it is to be struck by lightning. 

Now, what the Supreme court does is another interesting fact. They handle the highest cases that come through the system. They get about 7,000 cases per year but they have such limited time with only 9 justices to handle these cases and they will only take on about 100 cases a year. The most important takeaway I got was learning about the actual process of the supreme court. During the trial hearings, there are lawyers on each side and each case ends with the justices voting on the case. I learned that only one justice writes the legal description of the voting. Then justices are given the opportunity to release personal opinions. Once all of this is done and there is a majority in their voting the results are posted.

The supreme court has taken a big part in shaping America and its history through many very popular cases and has helped so many generations continuously respect their constitutional rights. By learning more about the supreme court I feel as if I better understand all of the cases and how the justices make decisions on these cases. I now think that it is important for more Americans to learn about how the Supreme Court works so that these cases are better understood.