The Supreme Court of the United Sates

2 February 2017 <3

Finally after 200 years, Americans have finally accepted the courts authority. John Marshall was named chief justice in 1800. Under him, the supreme court made the constitution and effective instrument of nation building. And it was during these years that the court earned lots of respect from the people as a coequal branch of government. But just 20 years later, the court faced one of the most dividing issues in court history. The Dread Scott case. The question about slavery. Dread Scott claimed his freedom from slavery under an act of congress. The court ruled that congress had no power to ban slavery and blacks could never be citizens. This was eventually resolved by civil war. And is now remembered to be the courts "great self inflicted wound". This war amended the constitution to abolish slavery, give voting rights, and define citizenship to slaves. This was the 14th Amendment.

In the video Comm3390 Supreme Court, the Justices explain to the viewer that the people of the Supreme Court cannot make up their own problem and bring it to the court to handle just as a governor or senator or even a mayor can. The many things that they look over is merely due to the problems or situations that the people of the United States of America bring to the court. The issues the Supreme Court deals with are ones that are a problem within the whole country and not just one person with an opinion. When the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court board have a decision to make, they come together in a board room and just the 9 of them sit and come to a decision. Once a decision is made, one of them is selected to construct a detailed opinion on why that was the decision. This is the most time consuming part of the decision making. This usually takes about 4 weeks, and then is sent to the 8 other justices. They can redraft this opinion as many times as they want in order to convince the others to agree with their side. This may go on for months as the writer tries to include everyones views.