Post #2: Supreme Court

 I can never keep my focus while watching long videos, so I decided to read History Channel’s overview of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest, most powerful federal court in America. The SCOTUS is the head of the government’s judicial branch, and has the power to check the actions of the other two branches of government (executive and legislative). It has the ultimate and final jurisdiction over all US laws. On top of this, it is responsible for evaluating the constitutionality of all these laws, which is called Judicial Review.

The Supreme Court was founded and established upon the creation of the US Constitution on March 4, 1789 by Article Three of the US Constitution. This article granted Congress many powers: they were allowed to create federal courts with power under them, and also decide the organization of the Supreme Court. The legislative branch first executed that power with the Judiciary Act of 1789, which was signed by George Washington, the president at the time. It specified that the court would consist of 6 judges that would remain in that job til their death or retirement. The first Supreme Court meeting was on February 2nd, 1790 in NYC.

The chief justice is responsible for presiding over the Supreme Court and setting agenda for the weekly meetings, such as a normal “secretary”. The first 6 members of the Supreme court were Chief Justice John Jay, with Associate Justices John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison and James Wilson.

Through time, the number of seats on the Supreme Court has changed. The lowest number of justices was 5, and the highest was 10. However, ever since 1869, there have only been 9 seats. The current 9 members of the Supreme Court are chief justice John Roberts, Jr. and associate justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch.