Blog Post #2
Supreme Court
After watching the two embedded videos and reading an article the History Channel had published on the Supreme Court, I have taken away from these resources and learned about what the Supreme Court justices do, what the Supreme Court consists of, and how the decisions these justices make have an effect on the past, present, and future of this country.
Through the article and the videos I learned a lot about the Supreme Court that I was unaware of beforehand. This includes the first meeting being postponed by a day because the justices have issues with transportation. During the first meeting on February 2nd 1790, there were no cases to be heard by the Supreme Court and that ended up being the case for the entire first term this justices served in. I learned that the first decision was handed down on August 3, 1791 and the next day the court heard arguments for the case West v. Barnes. The article informed me that for more than 100 years after the foundation of the Supreme Court, justices were required to hold circuit court twice a year in each judicial circuit until it was formally abolished in 1891. This was abolished because it was a grueling duty for the court. I also learned new information about the role the chief justice plays within the Supreme Court and how important their part is within the justice. The chief justice is required to sit on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, and also presides over trials of impeachment against the President of the United States. I was unaware that Congress altered the number of Supreme Court seats which has fluctuated anywhere between five or up to ten seats. This has occurred six times in total over the years until Congress set the number of seats to nine in 1869 and has remained that number ever since.
The most important take-away point about the Supreme Court for me is the importance these justices have on our branches of government. Not only is the importance of these justices taken out on the three branches of government, but also how developed our nation is today. The Supreme Court has the ultimate jurisdiction over all the laws within the United States, and they are also responsible for evaluating the constitutionality of these laws. Having the final say on the laws we as citizens is quite important seeing how if they don’t set the right laws there can be issues that arise because of it. These nine justices also have the power to check the actions of the other two branches of government including the executive branch and legislative branch. This sets them as the head of the judicial branch of government as they oversee the rest of the branches and everything needs to be approved by these justices before anything is set. The chief justices are not only the highest judicial officers appointed to the court but they are also the most influential. Without chief justice John Marshall, we wouldn’t have had that defined relationship between the judiciary and the rest of the government.
The most surprising thing I learned was how the court didn’t hear any cases in its first term. This was surprising to me because it makes me wonder what they were doing during the time that there were no cases being heard. I also found it surprising that it was required for the Supreme Court to hold circuit court twice for more than 100 years before it was abolished. One would think someone would have realized how exhausting it was for the justices and if it was able to be abolished in 1891 it makes you wonder if it was even necessary for the Supreme Court to be held to for years and years. I also found it quite surprising that it was Cheif Justice Earl Warren that gave citizens the Miranda Right that ultimately is the right to remain silent warning police officers give out when arresting people. On top of being apart of the decision for Miranda Rights, he was also the one involved with the final decisions on Brown v. Board of Education, and Loving v. Virginia which abolished the prohibition of interracial marriages. These were all surprising to learn about because I knew about these cases but never knew which Chief Justice was apart of the outcomes of the cases and throughout the trials.
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