The Supreme Court

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

In the two parts of The Founding Era & the Idea of America, I learned a lot about the Supreme Court and how it runs. Before watching this video I had very little knowledge about the Supreme Court. The only thing I knew was that it was the highest court of justice and it consisted of nine judges who could serve for the rest of their lives. 

After watching these videos I now understand that there is a lot more to the Supreme Court than I thought. To begin, the duty of these justices is far beyond committing then almost every job in the nation as every justice on the court can serve for the rest of their lives. Although this is an option, most only end up serving for an average of 16 years as the justices usually step down at that point. You can't blame them as they have to serve for a very long time before joining to even being recommended to be a part of the Supreme Court. Along with this, I learned about the roles of the court and the different positions that are held. On the Supreme Court, there is always one Chief Justice, and the rest are known as associate justices. The job of the chief justice is to oversee the court and be the one to determine whether certain cases are worth the Supreme Court level or need to be sent back down to gather more information. 

Along with learning many new things, I found one big takeaway that in my opinion is the most important out of everything. That is the fact that not all cases, in fact, most cases, are NOT worth the Supreme Court time. The Supreme Court is the highest of the high and its job isn't to handle trafficking tickets or even murders, it is to uphold what the Constitution states and only accept cases that earn the way to that level. For instance, if a case is deserving to go to the Supreme Court. It will never just automatically go right to them. It will start at the lower-level courts and slowly work its way up to them.

Overall, this video changed the way I looked at the Supreme Court entirely. Before watching this video when I would think about the Supreme Court, I would think about Checks and Balances and how they decide whether something is constitutional or unconstitutional. As bad as that sounds, it is what most Americans believe nowadays when they hear it. We all know the Supreme Court is important, but not many truly understand why. This video taught me just how important they are and that without them we wouldn't have many of the rights we have today. I suggest that every American takes some time to watch these videos as it is more important than ever to have a clear understanding of how our government and judicial systems work in America.