Sophia's Blog: Blog Post #2 : The Supreme Court

Before I took a look at the video and article, my knowledge of the Supreme Court was very slim. As a person living in the United States I feel like I should know more information. I did not know that the Supreme Court did not have any cases throughout its first term in February of 1790. The first decision that justices made was not until August of 1791. The case was called West v. Barnes. It was a very simple case that was between a farmer and a family. I always thought the Supreme Court only did large and important cases. The Supreme Court, also known as SCOTUS, has the most power and is known as the "highest federal court." Over time there have been hundreds of different supreme court justices. The justices are people who are nominated by the President of the United States. The nominations are later looked at by the U.S Senate. The average span of time supreme court justices stay on the bench is 16 years however, there are times that justices have stayed more than that. I had no idea that supreme court justices keep this job for so long. This is more than the amount of time the president has his job title. Video Part 1 showed that a justice described his experience with the Supreme Court as a humble experience. The justice said "Being appointed to the Supreme Court is akin to being struck by lightning." This surprised me so much. It makes it seem that this job is not enjoyable at all and it drains the individual so much. I always thought that this was a job that everyone wants. But, this shows that is takes time to truly get comfortable with this job and the overall process. Learning more about The Supreme Court showed me what actually goes on behind the scenes. It was very interesting and I am excited to learn more.