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.