SCOTUS Chat

 SCOTUS = Supreme Court Of The United States

What does the Supreme Court do? 

• Checks executive branch is making constitutional decisions

• Checks legislative branch is making constitutional decisions

• Creates precedents through court case decisions

Did You Know?

We have all heard of the Supreme Court. You probably know that there are nine justices who are appointed for life. The current judges include chief justice John Roberts, associate judges Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, and Neil Gorsuch.

Did you know that the original court contained only six judges? 

In 1789, George Washington enacted the Judiciary Act which granted the power to the President and Congress to develop the Supreme Court. Congress then noted that there were to be six judges on the panel of the Supreme Court. What's interesting to me, is that the number of judges was not written into the Constitution. 

Did you know that Supreme Court justices don't even have to be judges? 

It is not a requirement for Supreme Court nominees to have previous experience as a judge in another court. However, they do need to have some sort of education in the law. There are five well-known justices who didn't have judicial experience prior to entering the Supreme Court justice: John Marshall, Roger Taney, Charles Evans Hughes, and Earl Warren. 

SCOTUS Thoughts

After learning more about the foundation and make-up of the Supreme Court, I find there to be several points to question. 

First, why is the organization of the Supreme Court not in the Consitution? The Supreme Court is one of the branches of the United States government. In the assembly of the branches, the rules and regulations of each branch should be included in the Constitution. This is a problem because it allows government officials to "easily" change the organization of the court. It should not be "easy" to change the organization of the federal government because it increases the chance for an overthrow of the government.

Second, why is it not a requirement for Supreme Court justices to have prior judicial experience? It would make sense for the justices to be made up of judges who have understood and experienced lower courts. If Supreme Court justices have the power to create precedents, sentence individuals to life in prison, and interpret the Constitution, shouldn't they have a substantial amount of prior experience? I think so. 

Lastly, should the Supreme Court justices be decided by the people's vote or by the president? I think that if a Supreme Court Justice is appointed for life and decides the fate of the citizens, the nominees should be selected through a similar process to other government officials who represent the people.