The Founding Era

Week 3: The Founding Era

After watching the history of the Supreme Court, I definitely walked away with more knowledge about how the Court operates than I initially knew. Americans often get educated about how the Congress operates and what the duties of the President are, but the Supreme Court and its duties often get overlooked.

The Supreme Court gets several thousand petitions per year, and it is up to the Justices to determine which ones require full consideration. After a decision is settled on a case, the justices write an opinion, which will reveal to the American people what the justices decided upon. This is the most important job of the Justices, as this will reveal exactly what the thought processes were among the nine Justices as well as the conclusion of a very important case.

I personally liked the idea that the Justices have implemented in their discussions, and that is to make sure that everyone talks first before anyone talks twice. This ensures that every opinion is heard and no voice is silenced in the matter. With nine unique persons on the table it can be easy to overlook one or two people's opinions, but the Supreme Court makes sure that it never happens. Additionally, I liked Justice O'Connor's response to the question "Is there an implicit affirmation of the result of the case if a case is dropped?". It affirms that the Court does everything in their power to make sure every case gets the proper amount of consideration when it is presented to them.

I particularly liked the line that was said at the conclusion: "The power of the court is the power of trust earned, the trust of the American people." The more I think about this line, the more I realize that it is very true. The American people trust the President to lead the country the best they can by affirming laws and creating executive orders when necessary. They trust that Congress will listen to their suggestions and create laws based on what the general population desires. However, it is up to the Supreme Court to declare how a certain issue is to be addressed, and these issues may be very relevant to the general population, sometimes more so than laws or orders.

Though I do not fully understand law nor do I desire to go into the field of law, I do understand how important a single case can be for a number of people. Lives change from cases in simple domestic courts and cases in criminal courts, so the power that the Supreme Court wields is much greater than the average American suspects. With that being said, I fully respect the authority that the Supreme Court holds and I will make an attempt to read up on some of these opinions that the Justices release.

Source:

History of the Supreme Court