Blog 2: How Much Do You Know About The Supreme Court?

If I am being completely honest, the roles of the government have never been something I was very knowledgeable of. Of course, I know the role of the president and the 3 branches of the government but, after graduating high school and not needing to take any more history in college it slipped my mind to have a better understanding of our governmental systems. However, this changed this past year when the election took place because it was the first time I was ever allowed to vote. I felt that I needed to understand who and what I was voting for now that I had a say. Although I have learned a lot over the past 2 years, The Supreme Court is definitely something that I still don't know too much information. Through reading the article, Supreme Court from the History Channel I was able to learn and understand more about what their role is. 

\The Supreme Court is the highest federal court in the United States. I learned that the first court was compromised of six justice seats and though out the year's congress switched the number of seats from 5 to 10. Since 1869 the number has remained at 9 seats. I wanted to dive a little deeper into my understanding of why there are only 9 eats. Before the set of 9 seats, congress would change the number of seats held by justices to attain its own partisan political goals. This is why John Adams changed the number of seats from 6 to 5 so that it will decrease Jefferson's chance of getting to nominate a new justice during his term. The seats were decreased and increased multiple times since then and they could do this because rather than the Constitution deciding how many seats will be held, it is Congress's decision. Also, I did not realize the impact the chief justices had. For example, I was not aware that Earl Warren was the one who issued the banning of school segregation or put Mirandas rights in place, two monumental moments that have impacted today. 

It is really surprising to me that the justices sit on the seat until they die. Since its creation in 1789, there have been a total of 115 people that have served on the Supreme court. When I first read this number it felt so low to me but because they serve for decades, I should not have been surprised to see the number fairly low. It was also shocking to me that the Constitution does not state that Justices are appointments for life but rather they "shall hold their offices during good behavior" which in turn means they can only be removed from their position by impeachment. Crazy! I think most people would find it astonishing that to be a justice there are no qualifications. Instead, you submit a detailed questionnaire and sit before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing and afterward they send a nomination to the full senate with reclamation for approval or rejection. 

The most important takeaway of the Supreme court is that they are the final decider of the law. The Supreme Court is responsible for assuring the American people that we have equal justice and that they are protecting our rights and the Constitutions.