While reading about SCOTUS from this article, I learned about the process of bringing in a new court Justice as they are first nominated by the President and are either accepted or rejected by the U.S. Senate. The purpose of the Supreme Court is to interpret the Constitution which was created 200 years ago which specifies the rights of citizens. There is no set amount of time that they are allotted because that position is theirs until they die or want to retire. This means that the President who appoints a justice, has a lesser span of time in office then a Justice does. The average time as a Justice averages 16 years but it is also common to hold a position for 30 years. Another interesting fact is that SCOTUS isn’t just the determiner of court cases but also the judge of impeachment trials for Presidents.
One of the most surprising aspects I learned was that the Supreme Court has a massive amount of power that can indicate the direction that social issues can steer, either right or left. I understand now why it is so monumental when a supreme court justice passes away because that means that the direction of SCOTUS can change with a new Supreme Court Justice thrown in the mix. Another surprising fact is that the justices shake hands before each case as a way to integrate unity and harmony into their dealings with each other. They also have a rule that everyone speaks once before they’re able to speak twice. I think this says a lot about their respect for one another and their willingness to hear all sides before debating over the issue.The most interesting take away I learned about SCOTUS, is that many of the civil rights that we find normal to have are actually precedents set by the Supreme Court. Examples are interraccial marriages, same sex marriages, provided legal representation and the right to an abortion. As we live in today’s generation, it’s hard to grasp that people in the past didn’t have the rights I have easily today.
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