The Supreme Court

Throughout watching the videos on the Supreme Court I was surprised at how little I knew about the Supreme Court. I was unaware of the connection between the constitution and the Supreme Court. The court not only has a huge amount of power over the trajectory of our country but they are tied to the job of upholding the rights of the Constitution. Another major factor that surprised me was that there have only been around 100 justices with the average span being 16 years. I was not surprised by the discourse in the Supreme Court but unlike many other areas of government there is a sense of respect and good faith from justices to their colleges. Sense of respect through shaking hands. This is unique as they don’t seem to be fighting each other rather battling opinions based on facts.   

The Supreme Court is the most powerful body of justice in the world according to the video. Unlike other positions in government Justices maintain lifetime membership. This keeps the Justices impartial to infer the law as they see best fits the constitution without worry of re-election that may sway other politicians' views. The Supreme Court holds a lot of control over other branches of government through its authority over the constitution. The respect held between the educated individuals debating and conferring with each speaker once before anyone speaks twice stood out to me as an ideal view on what the American government should be.

The original unimportance and disrespect towards the court in its beginning surprised me due to its importance today. It was not until the work of first Chief Justice John Marshall where the court discovered its power in government and solidified itself as a branch of government in the case Marbury v Madison. The sheer amount of cases presented to the Supreme Court over 7000 a year and only taking 100 surprised me. It makes sense there are only 9 justices, however the amount of change caused by these 100 cases a year do more change for this country than almost any other form of government. 

I had never before considered the power of the Supreme Court as the moral backbone of the country and the guard dog of the constitution. I gained a lot of respect for the court as they are aware of their power yet humbled by the influence they command. 

The Eight Values of Free Expression

 

The Eight Values of Free Expression include the Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Government Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation, and Protect Dissent. These values give shape to the first amendment and fill out the legislation from a few sentences to a comprehensive guide to freedom of expression. The first amendment is one of the most vital forms of protection American citizens possess against the United States government. In a country originally designed to give the freedoms to the people, over the last two hundred years the United States have attempted to reclaim many of these rights or violate them through censorship and the concept of misinformation. Some of these Values of expression stand out to me as not only fighting for free expression but fighting for a better future for our country as a whole.       

Lee Bollinger, (Former president of Columbia, editor of Columbia Law Review, winner of 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.) known for his promotion of the Tolerance Theory. This idea of accepting wider rangers of expression will overall grow the “Diversity of Ideas”. Bollinger believes that with the tolerance of extremist speech can reduce strain and prevent the racialization of others. This can be seen in his book The Tolerant Society. This concept stands out to me as it demonstrates the true value of freedom of speech. One can say whatever they like but the people that hear it have the choice with what to do with this information. By promoting tolerance the people take power away from extremists and help grow overall unity and self control in the community 

C. Edwin Baker, (BA from Stanford, JD from Yale). The Idea of Individual Self-Fulfillment as seen in C. Edwin Baker’s Human Liberty and Freedom of Speech. This theory of Self-fulfillment helps the men and women of the United States reach for one of the original concepts of the Declaration of Independence “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. By protecting speech to help the individual reach its goal due to individual values. This resonated with me as freedom of speech is more than just speaking up against the government but speaking up for oneself and following one's own unique values.  

Jack Balkin (JD from Harvard, PHD from Cambridge) The theory on the promotion of Innovation is vital  as seen in Balkin’s book Living Originalism. Without the freedom of innovation our county would live in a standstill. This is especially present in today's climate. We live in a county that often seems afraid of change and innovation. However the communication and expression of brilliant minds is what has made our country such a great place to begin with. In recent years this value seems to be lost on many. The government's censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic comes to mind in this situation. Murthy v. Missouri demonstrates the dangers political censorship can have on the lives of our citizens. However this is not the end for Innovation, cases like Murthy v. Missouri allow for others to innovate, create, and share to make our world a better place through their first amendment rights.

Top Five News Sources

 Instagram

This source of news is used in a different way from the others. This is for personal news. I use Instagram to inform me of what is going on within my friends and families lives. I can see who is on vacation or who is getting married. (Way to many of my friends are getting married)

NFL Network/ESPN

Football has always been one of my favorite sports. Throughout my life I have looked at lots of different sport talk shows. There are several of these I watch everyday to figure out what players are going to do over the coming week. This is often used by me to best set bets as it informs me on injury projections and other important information that involves the players I follow. One of these shows is Good Morning Football which mixes information and comedy for an entertaining but informative show

X or Twitter

X or Twitter is a form of news that I do not often use however I still consider a news source I use. This is mostly as I follow actors, athletes and directors of movies and games. I use this site to find out about new games coming out or how well a movie is doing in production. Recently I have been following James Gunn and his work on the Superman Movie. 

Google News

Google News is the most informative news source I use. I do not use this source every day, however I often turn to this site to do research or follow up on topics that interest me. Recently my mothers school has undergone an embezzlement case and I was using Google News to understand the follow up on that story Here.

Family

My family is very large and full of educated individuals. Our group chats are often filled with the latest news from pop-culture to politics. From lawyers, doctors, cops, teachers, and farmers my family covers a lot of bases and always has new news to share. The down side of this is they are often very biased opinions as my family holds very democratic views.