Blog #2

Supreme Court 

After watching the two-part video about the history and workings of the supreme court I was intrigued to read the article to find out more. Although I have been on a trip to see the supreme court I was too young to soak in all of the important information I could have learned. The article and video allowed me to see how crucial the supreme court is in maintaining our status as a free country. 

The supreme court holds the position as the highest level of court in the country and leads the judicial branch of the US government. There are only nine supreme court justices who serve their position as long as they choose to, until they pass away, or if they are impeached. Since this is the case it is very rare and has been compared to being struck by lightning to be chosen as a supreme court justice. A fun fact about a supreme court justice is that one of the standing justices, Samuel Alito, went to my high school. When I learned more about these justices in the video it made me think in further detail about how someone from my town got so far into their interest and even though it is very hard to become a justice, it is something that is honored and respected by many. 

The most surprising thing that I learned was how many cases are submitted to go to the supreme court that do not make it. They only hear on average 100 cases when there are thousands submitted. These cases do not get finalized in one day which was something I already knew but did not put into perspective how tiring taking all of the cases submitted would be. I do believe that sometimes it is unfair and that more cases should get a higher level of recognition but there is not enough time in the day. The most important takeaway I got was learning more about the actual process of the supreme court. During the trial hearings, there are lawyers on each side and each case ends with the justices voting on the case. I learned that only one justice writes the legal description of the voting. Then justices are given the opportunity to release personal opinions. Once all of this is done and there is a majority in their voting the results are posted. I previously did not know personal opinions were separated and published which was something I liked because it allows them all to share how they felt. 

Because the supreme court is the highest level of law it is important that it is respected and taken care of. Although there will never be a time that everyone agrees amongst one decision it is important that the purity of the supreme court stays intact so that the decisions they are coming to are still valued and respected by those who may not fully agree with the decision. The supreme court has shaped America and its history through many very popular cases and has helped generations and generations continuously respect their constitutional rights. By learning more about the supreme court I feel as if I better understand all of the cases I have heard about in the past and I feel it is important that all Americans learn more about how their rights are cared for.