The Supreme Court

The journey through the history of the Supreme Court and the daily lives of the Justices

In 1789, the Constitution was ratified. Within this document, it lays out the powers of the Judiciary Branch of the government, including the Supreme Court. When John Marshall became Chief Justice in 1801, that's when the Supreme Court started to be recognized as a branch of government. Ever since 1925, the Court uses what is called a certiorari to review about 7,000 cases per that were appealed to the Court. A certiorari is the Court's right to decide what cases they review to make sure everything was done lawfully.

When a Supreme Court judge is appointed by the Senate after being nominated by the US President, he or she is able to serve on the bench as long as he or she remain faithfully to the law and is healthy. On a weekly basis, this is what a judge’s week looks like:

• Receive a stack of cases that were appealed

• Review the cases in private and with law clerks

• Discuss the positives and negatives of taking a case with the other judges during their conference

• Decide whether or not to take a case

• Go to the Court and hear the arguments from both sides of the case

• Vote in private and writes opinions about why they voted the way they did

When the judges formally meet for conferences and Court hearing, they shake each other's hands before doing anything. Also, they respect one another and during conference, each judge is allowed to voice their opinion so that one judge is more outspoken then another.

Watch the following videos to learn more about the Supreme Court:

Follow this link to the official Supreme Court website and to learn the latest news about it:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/