The Supreme Court

    Something that I found quite surprising about the Supreme Court was that opinion writing takes the most time in the context of case rulings. The Supreme Court has to write its reasoning for any decision that it makes. This is an extremely important aspect of Supreme Court rulings as it is the only way that the Court's decision can be truly held up in other courts. The Supreme Court must explain how and why its decision is in line with the Constitution to help all lesser courts adhere to the same principles of the decision.

    The most important takeaway point about the Supreme Court is that the court is the supreme power in America. It has the power to overthrow any decision made by Congress if it deems it unconstitutional. This is a daunting piece of information that everyone should be aware of. Those who are placed on the Supreme Court are chiefly responsible for upholding your rights as an American citizen. 

    It was surprising to learn that the Supreme Court had ruled that slavery was constitutional and black people could never be citizens. While I understand that this extreme misjudgment was simply a product of its time and an attempt to keep the nation together under the Constitution, it is jarring to see just how extremely the Supreme Court can misjudge a ruling and just how harsh the consequences for our nation can be.

    The videos on the Supreme Court really humanized the whole process to me. Before this video, I hadn't researched individual justices as people, nor had I heard them converse with one another outside of the context of a case. I think hearing the justices talk to, disagree with, and joke with each other was a very beneficial thing for my understanding of the Supreme Court. The court is simply made up of people trying to do their best for their country. They often butt heads and they sometimes make mistakes, but in the end, the justices are all just people working towards the same goal.