The Establishment of the Supreme Court

United States Supreme Court was established by Article III of the United States Constitution regarding the federal judiciary. Section 1 states that “the judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.“  The recognition of a court to be the final power to interpret what laws are and are not constitutional is perhaps the greatest vesting of power granted in the Constitution.

While the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court, it permits Congress to determine how to shape the Court. Congress enacted the Judiciary Act of 1789 which established the lower federal court system and declared that the Supreme Court would have six justices.  The Act also established the beginning of the federal court of appeals and the multi state circuit court federal system.

The Supreme Court has been, since the beginning of our democracy, recognized as our nations “High Court.”  It is an entity with so much power over the laws promulgated by Congress that each appointment of a new justice can shift the balance of power to affect and impact millions of Americans for generations to come. Alexander Hamilton was once quoted as saying that the Supreme Court is “beyond comparison the weakest out of the three departments of power.” How little did he know. For a man with incredible vision, it was not foreseeable at the time that the Supreme Court of the United States would become arguably the most powerful body in the United States of America.

The United States Constitution does not lay out in detail the powers or the impact of the court. It simply establishes the body to be the ultimate determiner of whether or not a law is constitutional.

The Constitution does mention that it needs to have a chief justice, but it does not mention how many justices there should be or what terms they should have. It simply states that the United States Supreme Court justices should hold their office during “good behavior.” This has been interpreted by our lawmakers to mean “for life.”  However, the United States Constitution does lay out the possibility of impeachment for justices who exhibit “bad behavior.”  Only one justice in our nations over 200-year history has been the subject of impeachment. Justice Samuel Chase was impeached by the United States house of Representatives in 1804 for what they considered to be “partisan leanings” in his decision making.  However, he was not removed from office because he was acquitted by the United States Senate and allowed to remain a member of the court. This process may sound strikingly similar to the process of the attempted impeachment of President Donald J. Trump by the House of Representatives as he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.

As Congress has the power to establish the Supreme Court and the lower courts, they have set the number of supreme court justices at nine members. In the past, there have been as few as six members and as many as 10. It is likely apparent that an even number of justices is never a good idea.  Congress established the federal district courts as well as the courts of appeals for the federal system and all circuit courts based in power of the Judiciary Act of 1789

Interestingly, the Judiciary act of 1789 gave the United States Supreme Court power to issue what is called a writ of mandamus. This is a court order that can command a government official to do their establish job. However in 1803 the Supreme Court themselves in the case of Marbury versus Madison ruled, under John Marshall chief justice, that the Court did not have the constitutional power to issue such writs.  Justice Marshall invalidated that portion of the statute established by the United States Congress. In doing so he also established judicial review — the principle that makes the Supreme Court as powerful as it continues to be to this day.  Judicial review is the ability of United States Supreme Court to rule upon the constitutionality of a law and uphold it as constitutional or strike it down as unconstitutional

You can see how the court has become such a powerful body and how appointing conservative or liberal judges to the bench greatly influences and impacts the power of lawmakers. Many Americans view many issues such as abortion and second amendment rights to bear arms as the most important issues. If a case involving these issues is appealed and accepted by the United States Supreme Court to be heard, the court has the power to uphold or strike down laws on these types of issues.  Some hold the belief that the Supreme Court should be an extension of the presidents will. The Court was created to be a non-partisan body to determine if laws created either by the President or the Congress were in line with our constitutional mandates.

Chief justice John Roberts wrote on this matter. He stated “we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. “

During this country’s history, there have been various Acts of Congress that have altered the number of seats on the Supreme Court. After the Civil War, the number of seats on the court was fixed at nine and has remained at nine ever since the Civil War ended. The constitution states there shall be one chief justice. There are eight associate justices on the United States Supreme Court. Many people do not know and think that only United States Supreme Court justices are appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate. However, all federal judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the United Senate. All federal judges are appointed to office and can hold their office for the remainder of their life. Their salaries cannot be decreased during their term of office. The reason for these restrictions is that they are meant to protect the independence of the judiciary from the other political branches of government  from undue influence. No one can threaten to take away a  Judges salary or fire him because they are unhappy with the way that they decide a case.

 Jurisdiction of the court

United States Constitution at Article III section II establishes the jurisdiction (which means the legal ability of a court to hear a case) of the supreme court. It states that the court shall have jurisdiction over cases that are suits between two or more states, that involve ambassadors or other public ministers. The Court also has appellate jurisdiction, (meaning that they can hear after a lower court has heard the matter and the matter is appealed on the basis of a point of constitutional or federal law.) The most popular of these types of cases to reach the Supreme Court are cases involving treaties, division between the states, and cases involving constitutional rights.

Types of cases heard

Thousands of appeals to the Supreme Court are made every year and with only nine members, you can see that they can only hear so many cases every year. When exercising their appellate jurisdiction, they do not have to hear every case. In fact, The Certiorari Act of 1925 gives the court discretion to decide whether or not to hear a specific case.  If attorneys wish their case to be heard by the United States Supreme Court, they must prepare what is called a petition for writ of certiorari. The petition asks the court to review the case.  The US Supreme Court generally agrees to hear about 100 to 150 cases that are brought before them on certiorari every year. Approximately 7,000 cases are presented for certiorari to the court every year.

Appellate jurisdiction

Surprisingly, the best known and most daunting power of the United States Supreme Court is its power of judicial review. This is the ability of the court to declare that a legislative or executive Act is in violation of the Constitution and can be struck down as a matter of law.  This power is not found within the words of the constitution. In fact, the power was established by the court itself.  The Court established this doctrine in the case of Marbury v. Madison (1803). 5 US 137, 2 L. Ed. 60, 2 L. Ed. 2d 60 – Supreme Court (1803).   In that case, the court was asked to decide whether an Act of Congress permissible by the Constitution. Article VI of the United States Constitution establishes that the Constitution is the “supreme law of the land of United States of America.”  The court held that an act of Congress that is contrary to the constitution cannot stand. In subsequent cases, the Supreme Court also ruled that it has authority to strike down laws found to be in violation of the Constitution. Before the passage of the Bill of Rights Amendment in 1869 following the Civil War, the provision provisions of the Bill of Rights were only applicable to the federal government and not the States. After the Amendment was passed, the Supreme Court began ruling that the provisions of the Bill of Rights were also applicable to the states. Therefore, jurisdiction was created that the court has the final say as to whether a right protected by the Constitution is violated by law by the states.

Importance

It cannot be emphasized enough how significance the power United States Supreme Court has in our system of government. It is the highest court in the country, and it is the court of last resort for groups seeking constitutional justice. The Supreme Court holds the power of judicial review and has the power to strike down laws made by the states as well as at the federal level which violate the provisions of the Constitution and the amendments thereto. Therefore, United States Supreme Court determines what civil rights and liberties are outlined by the constitution and its amendment and what is considered an infringement by government. The course sets limits on government by ensuring that popular majorities cannot pass laws that take away or disadvantage minorities.

The Supreme Court serves to ensure that the views of a majority do not undermine the fundamental values common to all Americans which are grounded in our constitution including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and entitlement to the due process of law.

Impact

I think that few Americans outside the legal and government professions truly understand the staggering power the United States Supreme Court has in our system of government. The importance in our society to maintain an impartial and objective Court to ensure our civil liberties as granted by the Constitution are not infringed upon cannot be understated. The rulings of the Supreme Court have a profound impact on our society in everything from business to government to personal civil rights  Some of the most landmark cases that have been decided by the Supreme Court have created great change in America when such a change was needed. They have allowed us to maintain our freedom of expression among countless freedoms.  By appointing justices who may not be able to maintain an impartiality from their own personal views, the entirety of our democratic process and constitutional way of life is in jeopardy.

It is important to point out that the same provisions that allow you to practice your own religion allow others to practice their own religion. This is only a small example of the many rights that can be taken away or infringed upon by government if there is not a body in place to prevent laws that are contrary to our constitution from being upheld.

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