Privacy

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court in the United States has its legitimacy in the US Constitution but its power comes from public faith. It has taken over 200 years for the public to truly accept the court's authority. When the Supreme Court was first established in 1789 it was hard to get people to be justices. Now, there have been over 100 justices that have served a term of about 16 years each. John Marshall was the Supreme Courts most influential Chief Justice. During the Marshall years, the court earned respect as one of the three co-branches of government, the other two being the legislative branch and the executive branch. His case Marbury vs. Madison set a precedent and allowed to court to exercise judicial review by declaring acts of legislation unconstitutional.

The Supreme court reviews many cases but only accepts about 100 cases each year. Cases get to the Supreme court once they have been tried in lower courts then retried in trial courts before they finally have the ability to be considered for the Supreme Court. The nine justices meet weekly in order to discuss which cases to bring up to their court. Each justice will review the case before and they make sure that each case gets individual consideration. Each justice also gets even time to talk and give their point of view. The Supreme Court is the heart of the judicial branch in the United States and without it, judicial review would not exist. The Supreme courts most important responsibility is to make sure the values of the U.S. Constitution are upheld through legislation.