Supreme Court

In our discussion in class, we spoke about the Supreme Court and watched a video to further our knowledge on the courts job and the many aspects of being a supreme court judge. We learned that Supreme Court is the most powerful branch of government in the United States. This is due to the fact that the court is always the final interpreter of federal law. The courts also have a power called certiorari which is the power to choose what cases the justices want to review. This is an important power so that the justices can decipher through which cases are most important to review.

Each justice has one vote to show their opinion in the case. Though many court cases of late have been voted on unanimously, many court cases from the past have been won on one vote so every vote is extremely important. Also the lawyers of the court have a huge role on the outcomes of the cases. It is said to be extremely difficult experience to fight for your client in the supreme court, but it gives the lawyers much pride and sense of power.

After the justices have come up with a vote, they must make a court case opinion that can either be the majority opinion or the justices can write separate opinions if they have different reasoning for their decision. These opinions can be from one page on a unanimous decision to up to eighty plus pages on a divided vote. After the justices call the constituents to release important parts of their case brief to the public so the masses can know why the justices made the decisions they did.

These case briefs are important to the public because it the only information that is given out about the case due to the secrecy of the Supreme Court. As an example, there are no cameras or video recording allowed while court is in session. This shows the supreme courts motive to serve justice without any outside interference or the media. I personally think the courts decision to have this rule is extremely smart due to the media and their way of exaggerating the truth.

Overall, I gained a lot of new knowledge on the subject of the Supreme Court of the United States from the video and will most likely learn more about it due to my major being criminal justice.