Blog post #2 The Founding Era

     The Supreme Court is the highest judicial court in the United States. It is made up of 9 Supreme Court justices who work every day interpreting the law, deciding whether or not a law is relevant, and deciding on how a law should be applied. They decide on how national questions are decided. The Supreme Court's power rests on public faith. There have been 116 Justices so far. Each Supreme Court justice spends around 16 years working for the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was established in 1789, It was initially established in New York and was later moved to Washington DC in 1801.

  

     There is now One Chief justice and eight associate justices in the Supreme Court, but there used to be only six Supreme Court justices named by George Washington. In my research, I learned that all Supreme Court justices must have a nomination from the president. The Chief Justice now is John G. Roberts, Jr., and was nominated by President George W. Bush. The fourth Chief Justice was John Marshall in 1801, During Marshall's time was when the new court rapidly earned public respect as a co-equal branch of government. I learned in research that during Marshall's time as Chief Justice the

court's authority was not always respected. While John Marshall was Chief Justice, the court asserted (a claim made as a complaint in a court of competent jurisdiction) for the first time, the greatest of all judicial powers coming together to strike down an unconstitutional act of Congress. Under John Marshall's time as Chief Justice, the court made the Constitution an effective nation-building tool. 

    As I watched this video, I learned a lot about the past of the Supreme Court and got a better description of how the Supreme Court works. Each Supreme Court justice is assisted by a few people in law and secretaries. Each Supreme Justice must come to an answer on a case alone. In the video, Justice Brandeis, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1916, stated, "We do our own work," meaning they all individually have to work out each case and make a clear decision themselves. After a majority ruling of the nine justices, the side with the most votes must write an opinion. After all the work they do after writing the opinion that it is to persuade the other of that decision and that it can go on for months. I did not know that these supreme court cases take this long due to the writing and editing of the options which surprised me. The system is not fast but it is not made to be fast they take their time with decisions and working on cases.

My research changed my opinion and how I thought about the Supreme Court. I learned so many new facts I never have known before. One that surprised me was that it was initially in New York and was later moved to DC. Throughout my research, I continue to learn new things, surprise myself with new information, and dispose of false information I believe. I want to continue to inform myself of the Supreme Court and further my knowledge.