The Power of The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is known to be the most important court system within the United States, emphasizing the use of the word “supreme.” Overall, it is a place that holds the utmost power on the basis of the Constitution. With a place with so much power, one might wonder who demonstrates it to the public. Those who make up the Supreme Court are the justices, with 9 in total. There have been just over 100 justices on the bench throughout the history of the Court, with each averaging around 16 years. Some even last longer than the average, ruling the bench for decades until they pass. One that stands out to me is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with her having been a justice for 27 years since she was appointed by President Clinton in 1993. Appointment is a huge deal for those who wish to serve on the Court, as it means a great deal to not only them as an individual, but also to the public and to the presidential administration. The action of appointment takes some voting power out of the public’s hand and into the President’s, as he/she is the one to choose who they wish to serve on the bench. As Justice Stephen Bryer states, “once confirmed all of us are primarily responsible to the law and to this institution... and the public no longer has the direct ability to influence the decision to the ballot box, which is why that confirmation process is so important.” If I were to be appointed to the Supreme Court, I know I would be incredibly nervous due to the amount of pressure and potential scrutiny being thrown my way. The honorable position, however, would definitely make up for the potential criticism for the media (in my opinion).
Those who are being appointed in the current years of society do have a slight advantage than those who were appointed in the beginnings of the Supreme Court. Justice Anthony Kennedy explains that “we have 200 years of history, of detachment, in which we can see the folly of some ideas, the wisdom of others,” which each justice can take and learn from when making their own decisions regarding cases brought up to the Court.
Cases that are brought into the Supreme Court are chosen by the Justices and their small staff of law clerks every week. They get hundreds and hundreds of petitions for cases to be brought up from lower courts, which are then deeply looked into to see if it is worthy of discussion within the most powerful court in the world. If the cases are not chosen, it is primarily due to the fact that it doesn’t have enough involvement with the laws established within the Constitution. This is called the action of certiorari, which permits the Court to pick and choose what cases are argued before the Court as a whole. This brings an immense amount of power to the Supreme Court, as once certiorari was established people could no longer submit whatever cases they wanted. Cases have to be serious, and truly have a disagreement with the lower court decision based on constitutional law. Ultimately, the Supreme Court is a very serious place within the United States, with Americans placing a large amount of trust in it. Citizens expect the court to be there for them in their time of need and struggle, and the court needs its citizens to uphold the Constitution.
Comments
Post a Comment