Today, we view the Supreme Court as civil and just, however, during the creation and expansion of the court through history, it was not always seen that way.
The Supreme Court of the United States is in fact the highest federal court in the entire country and the head of the judicial branch of the United States government. Originally established by the United States Constitution, the supreme court has ultimate jurisdiction over all laws within the states and is ultimately responsible for overseeing the Authority and proceedings of those laws.
The court is currently made up of nine justices and if needed the court has the power to check the actions of the other two branches of government which is the executive branch of the president and the legislative branch of Congress.
To understand the framework and makeup of the Supreme Court, it is important to understand the origin of it and how it came to be today. The Supreme Court was established in 1789 by the third article of the United States Constitution which also then granted Congress the power to create other subordinate federal courts. Additionally, the constitution permitted Congress to decide the organization of the Supreme Court. And the legislative branch first used this power with the Judiciary act of 1789. This act which was signed by President George Washington would indicate that the court would ultimately be made up of six justices who would serve on the court. After the Constitution was ratified, the government had moved to Washington in 1801. At this time, they were not seen as equal to the other branches of government. John Marshall was the first individual to strike down the act of Congress as unconditional unconstitutional as seen in Marbury versus Madison. He then earned the court’s ultimate respect as an equal branch of government. Later, this changed the way the court was viewed from the public point of view and also in the other two branches of government’s view.
While faith and respect of the court lasted for about 50 years, it was broken when Dred Scott claimed freedom under an act of congress in the case of Scott versus Sanford. At the time, Roger Brooke Taney was the chief justice at an under his court, they ultimately ruled that Congress had no power to ban slavery in that black people could never be citizens. The decision ultimately weakened the court’s authority and ultimate respect. Eventually, the issue was resolved through the Civil War, and the constitution was amended to abolish slavery. It is pretty unnerving to me that this situation of great importance had to in fact be solved in the manner of war and violence, I wish at the time there was higher respect enough to just listen to another individual without having to bring violence to fight for rights.
Regardless of its rough rocky past, the court is now respected amongst many individuals today. The real question, however, is how we managed to get here. Many of today's justices claim they have a very specific way of going about certain cases, but they also have respect for each other and for the law and with that, they simultaneously take everything into consideration when choosing cases as well
as their decision-making process. Furthermore, once justices actually come to a decision, they will write an opinion that normally takes about four weeks. Once the opinion is actually released, it is given to the press to become public knowledge.
As I stated before, obviously the foundation of the original Supreme Court had its issues with equality amongst many other setbacks on just the start to a foundation that was supposed to be civil, professional, and equal to all individuals who presented themselves to the court. It is quite baffling to me to imagine the level of disrespect certain individuals would receive in the eyes of the court and how hard people would have to fight just to be listened to, honestly, it's quite sad. The history of the United States is most certainly not unflawed, but as we see in the current day, we have learned from our mistakes of the past and because of that, the supreme court is a living example of a new civil and just court system which originally built their foundation during an unjust and unequal time in history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8qSuWxcG8&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo&feature=youtu.be
https://www.supremecourt.gov
https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/about
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