What I Learned About The Supreme Court

One of the most interesting things I learned about the Supreme Court is that they get over 7,000 cases a year, but they only take about a hundred. I also learned that lawyers have 30 minutes to explain their case to the Supreme Court Judges while the judges ask questions. 

The most important takeaway I got was that the Supreme Court gets its power from the trust of the American people. It is the most powerful court in the world and needs the support of the people to effectively use that power. By handling the case of Roe v. Wade they recently gave state governments the power to decide what they want to do about abortion. This gives much-needed autonomy to each state and helps continue the cultural diversity of each state across the country. Some cultures are better than others like the South, but the Supreme Court has nothing to do with that. 

What was surprising about the video was the fact that opinions written by the Justices can be 80 pages or longer in a case of split decision. The revisions and adjustments can last months on a project like this and it is a very ardous process. 

I think the video helped me realize more that the Supreme Court Justices are people and not just cogs in the overcomplicated machine or government. My former understanding of the Supreme Court is that President's simply appointed Justices of their party they liked and made them vote how they wanted on issues, and while this is probably true to some extent I think the Justices genuinely care about correctly interpreting the law of our great nation.