Supreme Court

 

The Supreme Court of the United States, also known as SCOTUS, is the head of the Judicial Branch. The Supreme Court is the highest Federal Court in the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all laws, otherwise known as Judicial Review. The nine Supreme Justices work to oversee the laws proposed and if they violate the Constitution in any way. In addition, they keep the President, under the Executive Branch, and Congress, under the Legislative Branch in order. I didn't know that the Supreme Court primarily controlled the decisions made by the government.

In 1789, Article Three of the Constitution established the Supreme Court. Congress organized the Supreme Court and exercised its power through the Judiciary Act of 1789. Former President George Washington signed the Act, putting it in motion. Initially, the Supreme Court had six justices, creating the possibility of an equal vote in Supreme Court cases. The first decision ever to be made was the West v. Barnes Case in 1791, consisting of a financial dispute between a farmer and a family to which he owed a debt.

Supreme Court Justices are picked by the president and are chosen or denied by the United States Senate. The Chief Justice is the highest judicial officer, and they are in charge of leading weekly meetings and the agenda. Furthermore, the Chief Justice position allows them to sit in impeachment trials of the president, etc. 

The current Chief Justice is John G. Roberts, accompanied by Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Neil Gorsuch. 

Notable Court Cases:

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Roe v. Wade (1973)

One thing that caught my attention is that Supreme Court Justices serve for life. I'm curious as to what the thought process is when making that decision, given that presidents and senates have term limitations. How often are new ideas being generated, and should it be concerning that the justices make all the decisions and the government is who appoints them?