U.S. Supreme Court

 

The U.S. Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court is known to be the highest federal court in the nation. With currently nine justices in the court, their job is to check the executive branch, the legislative branch of congress, as well as the states. As we can all remember in our history classes, our teachers would talk about the basics of the Supreme Court's main purposes such as reviewing which laws are constitutional, if one were to appeal, the court may look at the case (usually many are not looked at) and is in charge of the judicial branch. While these are basic knowledge, there is much more of the Supreme Court that even I did not know and I'll be diving into what I've learned. 

The Justices 

In 2022, there are nine justices that look over the executive and the legislative branch. For as long as I can remember, I always thought that nine justices were the set number to have in the Supreme Court, but surprisingly I was wrong. During the early 1790s, the beginning of the Supreme Court, there were six justices that made the first decisions of the case of West v. Barnes. The reasoning behind having six justices was because, during that time, the justices had circuit courts twice each year in each judicial circuit. Eventually, in 1891 this process would be changed since traveling was difficult during this period. Since 1869, congress has not changed the number, and it is truly amazing how something so small like asking how many Supreme Court justices should there be and we are so prone to say nine when in reality there is no standard number unless the congress makes a change again.

Any Take-Aways?

For me, the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court is that the justices may be trained in the law, but they deal with human issues and more importantly, they are people just like us: not spirits. We are so quick to see these people as so high and mighty in their black robes, that we forget these people are just like us. They have lives with souls and are much more than what we see or think. I thought the Supreme Court was just another lesson in the history chapters. We know they are important but I foolishly take it for granted. The Supreme Court holds the power far beyond what regular citizens can have and it is important to see and understand that it is not an easy job. Looking over the President, the congress, the states, and receiving tons of cases on a weekly basis can be stressful at best but they do it for us and put us in their best interests. It is safe to say that I am really glad that I know how much dedication it takes to be a part of the Supreme Court and never again will I bat an eye at their importance to our country.