History and Workings of the Supreme Court

After watching these two videos, Part 1 and Part 2, I was surprised at the amount of information of the Supreme Court I was unaware of!

The first piece of information was how the Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions each day, from people all over the US, and must look through each and every one.

The second piece of information was a statistic that shocked me; that there has only been around one hundred Supreme Court Justices since its creation, each serving around sixteen years, with some serving twice as long as that.

The third piece of information came from Justice David H. Souter when he said that as a Supreme Court Judge, “(Y)ou really start doing you work here properly when you forget that you’re here. And that takes a few years.” I never thought of how the judges may have felt about being in the position of power that they hold.

The fourth piece of information I was not aware of, was that the court receives more than a hundred cases each week, and over seven thousand cases per year. But they only accept around one hundred per year.

The fifth piece of information was that when the Supreme Court comes to a decision, it is done by majority. That means some Justices may disapprove of the final decision, and I found it interesting that they are able to write their own opinion pieces, helping show which side they voted in favor for.

The sixth and final piece of information that I was unaware of, was the fact that the final public release of the court's decision can be from a few pages, to over eighty pages long, which I find astounding. 

I think the most important take-away from this video about the Supreme court, is the final quote by Justice Souter who says, “The power of the court is the power of trust earned – The trust of the American people.”

This is an extremely powerful quote, highlighting the fact that our system works so well, because the citizens and judges have a two-way trust for each other. We trust they will rule accordingly, and they trust that we will listen and obey. 

The most surprising piece of information to me, was the number of cases and petitions they receive each week and year, and the fact they only decide to take up one hundred of those each year. The amount of work these justices must do to go through all those petitions is admirable and brings a newfound respect from me for the work that they do. 

Overall, this video helped educate and re-inform me about the Supreme Court, reminding me of the important role they play in the society of the United States, and helping me further understand how the legal processes of our system work.