The Power the Supreme Court Holds

    The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court which checks the actions of the other two branches of government- executive branch and legislative branch. They have the power to evaluate if a law is constitutional or not. Currently, the court is made up of nine justices which are nominated by the President and confirmed or denied by the U.S. Senate.

The Supreme Court building was completed in 1935 and located in Washington, D.C.

    According to history.com, I didn’t know that Congress has changed how many seats the justices can hold. It has ranged from the low of 5 to a high of 10. The Supreme Court was established in 1789 through Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution. The highest judicial officer is the chief justice who is responsible for conducting and setting the agenda for justices’ weekly meetings. They also have the power to assign who will write the majority opinion after a case. 

    The most important point about the Supreme Court is it checks and balances the other branches of government so one branch doesn’t hold too much power. A well known power that the Supreme Court does is judicial review which is the ability of the Court to declare a legislative or executive action to be in violation of the constitution. The Court established this power in the case of Marbury vs. Madison (1803).

       The most surprising thing I learned was that only one justice has ever been impeached, who was Samuel Chase in 1805. This was surprising because there have been three impeachments of U.S. Presidents so I would assume that it is more likely for a justice to be impeached. However, you can argue that Presidents abuse their power all the time. Another surprising fact is justices are appointed for life, however, the constitution doesn’t state this law. In my opinion, I believe justices should be able to retire due to old age and health.

    The video changed the way I thought about the Supreme Court because it shows how powerful the branch can be in order to check and balance the power of the President and Congress.