The United States Supreme Court Part 1

Main Job The main job of the Justices is to hear and rule on cases to decide whether laws are allowable under the U.S. Constitution. They choose which cases to hear from among the thousands appealed to the court each year. They then decide on the case itself and issue a written explanation of the decision called the Court’s “Opinion”.

Number of Judges Congress decides how many judges there are. Currently it is 8 associate Justices and 1 Chief Justice for a total of 9. The Justices are important political decision makers because their rulings affect citizens as much as Presidential or Congressional decisions.

Background of Justices They are always lawyers. (Because you cannot be a judge without a law degree.) Political support from the Senate and agreement with the ideas of the President are important. Once they are appointed, a Justice does not have to be loyal or political and can make decisions the President or the Senate does not like.

Selection of Justices The President appoints Supreme Court Justices, with the approval of the Senate. The President must choose wisely because they want someone who the Senate will approve of. Throughout history, the Senate has rejected many presidential nominees to the Supreme Court for various reasons.

Firsts… The first African American Justice was Thurgood Marshall joined the court in The first Female Justice was Sandra Day O’Connor in The first Latin American Justice was Sonia Sotomayor. She was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2009.

They are very picky! The Supreme Court is not required to hear every case presented to it. It carefully chooses the cases it hears. When the court chooses not to hear a case, the decision of the lower court stands. Only 3% of cases appealed to the Supreme Court are ever heard.

Original Jurisdiction The Supreme Court actually only has original jurisdiction (as in the case STARTS with them) in 2 types of cases. – Trial cases that involve diplomats from foreign countries. – Cases in which states are involved.

A Court of Appeals In most cases, the Supreme Court hears cases that have been appealed from a lower level court. It has final authority in any case involving the Constitution, Acts of Congress and treaties with other nations.

Powers of the Court The legislative and executive branches of the government must follow the rulings of the Supreme Court because of the power of Judicial Review. The Justices do not care what people think about them because they are in office until they retire, or die.

The United States Supreme Court Part 2

Judicial Review One of the main jobs of the Supreme Court is to decide whether laws or actions by government officials are allowed by the Constitution. If the court says something is not constitutional, they can nullify or take away the law or action.

Not in the Constitution The Constitution does not give the power of Judicial Review. The landmark Supreme Court case of Marbury Vs. Madison (1803) set this precedent – The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. – If there is a conflict between the Constitution and any other law, the Constitution rules. – The Judicial Branch has the duty to uphold the Constitution.

Equality of the Branches Marbury V. Madison helped make the judicial branch equal in power to the other two. The power of judicial review is an important check over the other two branches. The final interpretation of the United States Constitution is reserved to the Supreme Court.

The Law of the Land Because the Supreme Court is the law of the land, a ruling affects police departments and courts all across the United States because it sets precedent. This means that all other courts MUST follow the Supreme Court’s example when they are making similar decisions on similar cases.

Limits of Power The Supreme Court has to rely on the Executive Branch and state governors to enforce their decisions. The Court can only hear and make rulings on the cases that come to it. A person cannot simply ask the Court to decide if a law is constitutional or not.

What’s it like? It conducts its business from October until the following June or July. Each month they take two weeks listening to arguments on cases and then take a two week recess. During the recess justices write opinions and study new cases. During their summer break they study applications for cases, write opinions, and catch up on other legal work.

How Cases Reach the Court It is both a trial and appeal court. There are two ways the court would have an original trial there…what are they? Most cases are appealed from lower courts.

Acceptance They meet weekly to decide which cases to hear. The Court will hear a case if 4 of the justices want to. Accepted cases go on the court docket, or calendar. Each year the court gets more than 7,000 applications. Of these…fewer than 200 are actually heard.

Steps in Decision Making Written Arguments: Once the Court takes a case lawyers from each side prepare a brief. This is a written document that explains one side’s position. Oral Arguments: Lawyers on both sides only get 30 minutes to summarize their case. Conference: On Fridays the justices get together and make their first decisions. A majority of at least ______ votes decides a case.

Opinion Writing Once the Court has reached a decision on the case, one justice gets the job of writing the majority opinion. – The opinion states the facts of the case, announces ruling, and explains the Court’s reasoning.

Written Opinions are… VERY IMPORTANT!!! They set precedent for lower courts to follow in future cases, and they also communicate their view to Congress, the President, and the public.

Other Types of Opinions Unanimous Opinion: Dissenting Opinion: A justice who disagrees writes this. A Concurring Opinion: This is when a judge who agrees with the majority, but for different reasons shares his/her views.

Reasons for Court Decisions The law is supposed to be the most important influence. Stare Decisis means “let it stand”. This is another word for precedent. Social conditions can change. When they do, the court reacts. A great example of this is when the precedent of separate but equal set by Plessy V. Ferguson (1896)was reversed in the case of Brown V. Board of Education (1954).

Reasons continued Legal Views: Justices have different views of the proper role of the court. – Some think the court should be very involved in society and others think the court should hesitate to use Judicial Review to promote new ideas or or policies.

Personal Beliefs Justice Benjamin Cardozo: “We may try to see things as objectively as we please. Nonetheless we can never see them with any eyes except our own”