The Supreme Court

 The Supreme Court- a judicial power that makes up one of the three pillars in the United States government. The name on its own gives the impression of regal, elite, and impassive. In simpler terms, the Supreme Court seems untouchable. At least that is the opinion I held before watching the following videos: 

Supreme Court: Part 1

Supreme Court: Part 2

The Quiet Workings of The Supreme Court Justices

Current Supreme Court Justices: 2025

The position as a Supreme Court Justice is one of honor and dedication, not only to the career itself, but to uphold the rule of law. While watching the attached videos, I learned that an average Supreme Court Justice serves for 16 years. They often are in their position for decades after the president who appointed them leaves the oval office. Each Justice does their own work separate from their colleagues and come to case decisions in private. Before this video, I had always viewed the Justices as cold and reserved from the American people. However, I have learned this perception is far from true. This group is dedicated to uphold the freedoms and liberty laid out throughout the past 200 years, the Justices are simply just people given a case to think about and compare it to The Constitution. 

The Supreme Court's Complex Process

The Supreme Court Building

Every week the court receives around 100 news cases and approximately 7,000 new cases per year. Many of these cases come as petitions or arguments hoping to persuade the Justices on why a lower court ruling was incorrect. Out of these thousand of cases that pile up, only a hundred a year will be chosen for full consideration. New petitions as well as cases that have already been accepted are then stacked and sent to the Justice's chambers once a week. Each Justice has a team of law clerks and secretaries who assist them, however, the individual Justice is responsible for coming to a decision about each presented case. The main task of The Supreme court is to review the facts from a lower court preceding such as, was the law applied correctly or is the law constitutional? The Court meets weekly to decide which cases should be accepted and vote on previous discussed cases. The first draft of a written opinion on a case decision usually takes four weeks, the drafts are then sent to the other Justices to view or edit. The author of the written opinion may then adjust their writing as to get the rest of the Justices to agree with their position, this process of editing, discussing, and compromising on cases can take many months to resolve. Overall, The Supreme Court's job is limited to issues that are pushed up by the American people and each petition, wether written by a Harvard legal professional or by a prisoner in jail, each case gets the same individual consideration, which is a very surprising thing I learned by watching the videos.

My Takeaways: The Supreme Court

The biggest idea that I came away with after watching the two videos is that The Supreme Court and its Justices are very engaged and open to the cases and issues presented by the American people. The videos also changed my perspective of The Supreme Court as being cold and untouchable to dedicated and level-headed. Another aspect I took away was due to The Court's openness with the large amount of cases they review and how it allows for The Supreme Court, along with the pillars of the institution and the core aspects of The Constitution, to continue to grow and evolve with the American people and the United States and giving it the stability to continue throughout the country's future.