Blog Post 2

 History and Workings of the US Supreme Court

    I somewhat knew information about the Supreme Court, however it was quite beneficial for me to read more on the court that basically runs the country. However, I do know how important the Supreme Court is and the importance of who is on it because of their role in our government. 

    Something that I did not know before reading this article created by the HISTORY Channel, was that the court did not hear any cases until their first term. This surprised me because I feel like since it was so new, things must have happened that cases would go to them. Something else I learned was how the number of seats in the Supreme Court changed quite often. At first it started with six justices, then down to five and then up to ten seats. But it has been set to nine seats, even up to present day. 

My most important takeaway from learning about the Supreme Court would be their power in government. They are the head of the judiciary branch and "has the ultimate jurisdiction over all laws within the United States and responsible for evaluating the constitutionality of those laws". They decide what laws are passed and if the President is impeached. Their role is extremely important and powerful.

    The most surprising thing I learned while reading this article was how so many cases that they have held are so important in shaping our laws for the country. For example, Gideon v. Wainwright which is the law that "defendants who cannot afford legal representation must be provided it without charge". Other very important cases include Roe v. Wade, United States v. Windsor, Obergefell v. Hodges, Mapp v. Ohio, and many more. 

    The article did not change much of how I thought about the Supreme Court. However, it did enlighten and teach me more things about the court itself. I was very interesting to learn more and more about our country's most important court.