BLOG POST #2

The Supreme Court is often referred to as the highest court in the United States. Personally, I previously did not have much knowledge about the Supreme Court. I was under the impression that the justices were chosen based on a high level of ethics and used those ethics to determine the outcome of cases. While this isn't the whole truth, it still does tie into their actual powers.

As Supreme Court Justices, these men and women hold the power to settle court cases. However, they do not do so based on what they feel is right or wrong. They are there to interpret the U.S. Constitution and decide whether or not a case was unconstitutional. While the Supreme Court only ends up fully settling around a hundred cases per year, the decisions they make have lasting impacts. Lower courts will use the facts from the Supreme Court rulings in their own similar cases and make a decision based on that. This follows an ideal known as setting a precedent.

Watching this video came across as very eye-opening to me, especially when it came down to hearing Supreme Court Justices' firsthand encounters. These seemingly normal men and women hold such an important role in the U.S. Justice System. The Constitution leaves so much room for interpretation, and these Justices are brilliant enough to be able to analyze it from every angle to come to a decision. This immense amount of power is so much pressure, knowing that the verdict they come to in one case will be studied by so many individuals and used to settle so many cases in the future.

 I hold an immense amount of respect for them, knowing that they go into these cases with their own system of beliefs that they have to put aside to come to a fair and impartial decision fully based on the interpretation of the Constitution.