The Founding Era

 

I have learned about the government structure throughout school, however I never fully grasped each aspect and understood how each part worked. After reading the HISTORY article explaining the Supreme Court in full, I learned a lot that I did not know before. I was aware that the Supreme Court is the highest level of court and they are part of the Judicial branch. The article gave me a new few of importance and power that they hold within our country. 

One idea that is surprising to me is the fact there are 9 judges that make up the Supreme Court who are the ultimate decision makers, including over the executive and legislative branches. The judges have to be nominated by the current President and then accepted or denied by the U.S. Senate and the highest judge of all is the chief justice who also holds the power of impeachment of the President. I also did not know that the Supreme Court started out with only 6 judges. The authority held by these judges is more than I was aware of and I believe 9 is a fair number as if it were less, there would be controversy on the fairness of power, and if it were more each opinion would not hold the same accountability. 

The videos and article changed the way I viewed the Supreme Court regarding the fact of the national cases they hold the ultimate decision on, including Roe v Wade. Which gave women the right to have an abortion during the first two trimesters of their pregnancy. This was then overturned last summer in 2022 and caused both national support and outrage within our country. The 9 judges held this life changing decision which is a key takeaway to realize and respect. The final decisions made have been carefully thought through for years to sometimes decades and based off the freedoms and Constitution we as a country agree on. 

The Supreme Court deserves respect for their time and stability of protecting the rights that we were all given within the Constitution and the 6 freedoms in the First Amendment. I feel that I learned important information regarding the power structure of our government and how decisions are made.