1. The Supreme Court

2. How a case reaches the Supreme Court
Cases mostly come from lower courts
The justices on the court pick what cases they want to decide on
They will pick cases that affect many people
They also pick cases that deal with the constitutional questions
Supreme Court
Appellate Court
District Court
Prior Knowledge: How many district courts are there? (94) Appellate Courts? (12)
Examples of Constitutional Questions: Gideon and Miranda

3. Supreme Court Caseload
This is the number of cases sent to the supreme court and then how many they decided on each year. (Each decision has what is called an opinion, which is like the ruling of the Supreme Court)
Has the number of opinions written by the Supreme Court since 1968 gone up or down? (Down)

4. Job of the Court
For the cases they pick, they interpret the Constitution
This means that they explain how the Constitution applies to the problem, and what the right solution is.

5. Steps of a Case 1. The lawyers for each side write a Brief
A Brief is a document that tells that person’s side of a case
2. Then the justices study the cases
3. Then each lawyer has 30 minutes to present their side (The justices can interrupt at any time with questions)
4. The justices go into Conference
5. The justices write Opinions

6. Conference (Step 4) The justices meet in secret
No other person is allowed inside the meetings except for the 9 justices
The chief justice is in charge and leads discussion
They discuss and then vote on each case
A majority vote decides each case

7. Opinions (Step 5)
The justices write opinions, which tells the following:
The facts of the case
The Ruling (decision) of the case
The Reasoning behind the ruling
All of the names of the justices who agree

8. Types of Opinions Unanimous Opinion – When all 9 justices agree
Majority Opinion – When the majority of justices write an opinion
Concurring Opinion – When justice agrees with the decision, but for different reasons
Dissenting Opinion – When a justice disagrees with everyone else

9. Supreme Court Website

10. Current Supreme Court Justices
Died in February
2016

11. Current Issues - Research the gentlemen below and write on your paper a detailed explanation of why one of them should be the next supreme court justice VS
Merrick Garland
Neal Gorsuch

12. Current Issues