Blog Post #2

     The Supreme Court is the highest federal court in the judicial system. The Supreme Court has nine Justices who serve for life. When a Justice dies, the President chooses a new Justice to take their place. This is all common knowledge about the Supreme Court. Having taken social studies and American history courses throughout grade school and high school, I thought I had a good understanding of how the Supreme Court worked. However, after watching Part 1 and Part 2 of the History Channel's short documentary about the Supreme Court, I realized I still hadn't grasped the full scope of how it really works. 

    One thing that I never knew was when and how the Supreme Court started. John Marshall was made the first Cheif Justice in 1801. This made him the first person to have the power to deem an act of congress as unconstitutional. Another fact that I did not know was that the justices do not get to pick which cases they hear. They also try and make sure that everyone talkes at once before allowing them to speak a second time. 

    I think the most important take away from the videos was that The court looks to the power of the constitution to make decisions. When a case gets to the Supreme Court it has already passed through the various levels of the judiciary system and therefore an issue of national concern. 

         One thing that suprised me was that it can take 4 weeks to write the first draft of the report citing the Justices legal reasoning behind their final verdict. although its important, it seems like a very large waste of time. 

    This video opened my eyes on how the Supreme court truly functions. Although it is a key piece in a complex system of checks and balances, it is still driven by people. Just because the Justices are hand picked by the president, they are still just normal people. They get nervous. 

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