A LESSON ON THE COURTS

 THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT SYSTEM

    In the United States of America, all federal cases and lawsuits are taken through our legal system, which has been ratified and built upon over the last 200 years since the Judicial Review in 1803 gave the courts enough power to review all actions of the government. All bases of argument are established through the Constitution, as each Chief Justice much interpret the constitution in a just and orderly way in order to hold up our democracy. The Chief Justice's we meet in the video including Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg make it clear that there are no secrets in the courtroom. Their job is simply to interpret the constitution and cases of the past in order to make their arguments in court. The judiciary system is made up of 3 courts: the District court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court as the end-all-be-all. Since the Supreme Court is the highest court, the vast majority of cases don't make it to the Supreme Court. Something I learned while watching this video is that Chief Justices can only choose a certain amount of cases to take on each time they assemble. Most media members make assumptions that when a case isn't picked up in the Supreme Court it means that they've upheld the case when in fact they are not making any decisions yet and are just leaving the case in limbo until the majority of Chief Justices's vote to settle the case. 

  "Being appointed to the Supreme Court is akin to getting struck by lightning"

    The amount of years a lawyer must sacrifice in order to reach the highest stage of the American legal system is extremely staggering. Justice David H. Souter was told that it takes at least 3 years to get used to working in the Supreme Court, with some people claiming 5 years is more realistic. One of my main takeaways from this video is the respect and trust that each Chief Justice has for one another. They prioritize having a healthy relationship with their coworkers, as display that by shaking each other's hands before they deliberate. They also stress the importance of having each member speak once before someone speaks twice which provides a fluid system for each justice's arguments to be heard and understood. Lastly, I learned throughout this video and our discussion in class is the weight and significance that the 14th amendment holds. It provided "every person", which is an important distinction, the opportunity of equal treatment through the law including privileges and immunities and due process of the law.