The Supreme Court

 The video about the Supreme Court was mostly informational and gave a lot of insight into the way the Supreme Court works. It talked about the 9 Supreme Court Justices and their powers to change the law with every decision they make. From this video I was able to learn very many things about the Supreme Court. I learned that they get on average 100 cases every single week. Which averages out to about 7000 cases every year. Supreme Court Justices are Nominated by the acting president. They serve for life with the average time of service being 16 years even though most spend double that time as a justice. They make up the most powerful judicial body on earth and their ability to rule whether the laws should be changed or conserved gives them great power over all the people in the United States. 
    
    The Supreme Court has been protecting people under the constitution for a very long time. In that time they have made mistakes and they have had triumphs. One of the great mistakes that the Supreme Court inflicted on itself was the Dred Scott case. In this case an enslaved African American man sued for his freedom and the freedom of his wife and two daughters. The Supreme Court ruled against his freedom in 1857 and basically said that the constitution didn't apply to an African American, creating a lot of controversy in the process. Scott would eventually get his freedom after being sold to a man named Taylor Blow, who owned Scotts father before him, but the problem with all this was that Scott was freed by a man with much less power much less need to protect the constitution then the Supreme Court. Making this decision one of their greatest follies on the road to national trust and respect. 

    The Supreme Court is very different from most courts because when hearing a case it is in public with 9 judges presiding over the court. Lawyers only get 30 minutes to make their argument. While they are making their argument the justices are asking questions that they want other judges to keep in mind which creates an internal dialogue between the judges and the lawyers that very few understand. After the judges make their decision they could write drafts that are 5 pages long or 80 bags long depending on if they agree or there are different opinions. 

    The thing I believe is most important about the Supreme Court is that their power is granted by a mutual trust and respect between the people and the court. The people need the court to decide without question what is right and what is unconstitutional and the courts need the people to obey the choices they make otherwise freedom is compromised. A quote from the video about the Supreme Court sums this up perfectly. " The power of the court is the power of trust earned. The trust of the American people.".

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