BLOG #2: SCOTUS

SCOTUS

The United states uses a dual system of courts which is split into state and federal jurisdictions. The Supreme Court or as it is also known SCOTUS is a part of the United States’ justice system. It is the highest court in the federal courts system. After reading the article on history.com, I learned new information on the Supreme Court. 

Most of the information I learned from this article consists of the information on the member of the Supreme Court. I did not know that article three in the constitution was what began the process of establishing the Supreme Court. The first thing that I was intrigued by is that over the years they changed the number of members from five through ten, six times over the years; however, most recently congress set the seat at nine and that is where it has remained. The nine current members are chief of justice John Roberts, Jr. and associate justices Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch.

I was most surprised by the fact that the members of the supreme court serve from the time that they are inducted after being approved by the U.S. Senate until they either die or retire. This length of time has been at the longest 34 years. This record holder was Chief Justice John Marshall who handled the case of Marbury v. Madison.

The most important take-away from this article about the Supreme court is how the justices are selected and what the purpose of the Supreme court is. The selection process of justices is done through nomination of the president and approval or denial by the U.S. Senate. Their responsibility is to evaluate the constitutionality of all the laws within the united states because they have ultimate jurisdiction over all the laws.

 This article opened my eyes and gave me a better understanding of exactly what the Supreme Court is responsible for. I knew they handled cases pertaining unconstitutionality. Originally, I thought they were selected by the people of the U.S. but my thoughts now on the Supreme Court have shifted and I give them more credit because if both the president and U.S. senate have to approve of the justice nominee, they have to be coming from a credible background,