Diving into the U.S. Supreme Court - Blog Post #2

The United States Supreme Court is the most powerful judicial body on earth. They heavily rely on the Constitution in making sure that it is always upheld and, most importantly, make decisions based on the good of the people. The Supreme Court has been crucial in the way that the United States' government functions. Out of the three branches of government, the Supreme Court has the ultimate say in the matter.

Reflecting from the videos about the Supreme Court, there were many facts I learned that I had not previously known. Some things in particular that I found interesting were that every time a new justice arrives, the court has to take a group photo. Another thing to note is that in all of American history, there have been about 100 supreme court justices, each serving an average of 16 years. However, many justices tend to serve twice as long. One of the most important facts that I hadn't known was that the President nominates the next chief justice, which differs from my belief of thinking it was U.S. citizens who made the nominations.

The most important take away to know about the Supreme Court is that when there is a court case in progress, the judges come together to discuss their differing ideas, which is beneficial for the good of the case. The chief justice is not the only person making all of the decisions. It is the collective of the judges that all come to one conclusion together. Although there may be arguing taking place, the judges still drive to make the best decision for the people.

The most surprising thing I learned was the Supreme Court receives more than 100 new cases every week, about 7,000 a year. Most of these arrive as petitions for certiorari, which is the power of the Supreme Court to choose which cases they take. As you can probably imagine, the Court accepts only a small number of cases for full consideration.

The videos ultimately changed my perspective on the Supreme Court. The staff, the judges, and most importantly, the chief justice does a lot more work than I thought previously. They take the citizens of the United States into full consideration and treat every petition with the same respect.