Understanding the U.S. Supreme Court

     In our great nation we have several levels of court. The highest level being the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has nine justices that directly appointed by the President of the U.S. with the approval of the senate. Unlike many other political positions they do not have term limits so they could theoretically serve for as long as they live which does happen. A new appointment is only made after another one of the justices step down from the position. The Supreme Court has been established as long as the constitution has been ratified but only gained validity after Marbury V. Madison in 1803. This very famous court case established judicial review which means the courts are allowed to review and invalidate the action of another part of the government. This is an example of separation of powers in the United States. 

    All members of the Supreme Court stay incredibly busy as they see over 100 cases a week but only will choose to take a few. In our country there are so many lawsuits and court cases that it is impossible for the Supreme Court to see of all of these case. This is why State and local courts are so important. It is up to the state or local court to determine whether a case is important to be viewed by the Supreme Court but this does not mean that they have to take it. A fun and interesting fact I learned from the videos we watched was that every time a new justice is appointed they take a new official photo.

    The videos we watched on the Supreme Court were super informational. As someone who is not an expert on the Supreme Court but is heavily interested in learning more about government I learned a lot. I think that it is so important to be informed on how your own government operates and works. It is only beneficial to yourself to understand the policies and inner workings of the government. To tie that back to the Supreme Court, these are the people that affect the well being of everyday people the most with many not even realizing it. This is something that I can really take away from what I learned is that throughout all the major court cases in American history it is the supreme court that is making all of these major decisions for the country and their citizens.