The Supreme Court is the most powerful court in the United
States. It was set up by the founding fathers of the United States in the third
article of the Constitution.
The court is made up
of nine members, called justices. There is one chief justice and eight
associate justices. They are appointed by the president and can serve on the
Supreme Court their whole lives. A justice can only be dismissed if they do
something wrong or illegal. Each justice must be approved by the Senate before
they take office.
The Supreme Court
guards and defends the American constitution. It decides legal cases that arise
between citizens, states and the federal government. In most cases the Supreme
Court hears cases that have already been decided before a lower court. When
someone who has lost a case thinks that the decision is wrong, he or she can
appeal to higher courts. The highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court, however, cannot deal with all the cases that are brought to it.
Each year it hears about 250 cases, only choosing the ones that the justices
think are most important.
When the Supreme
Court hears a case both parties have the chance to bring their arguments before
the justices, who may then ask questions. Parties can also present written
papers that show their opinion. There are no witnesses at such a hearing and
there is no jury allowed.
At the end of the
hearing the justices vote on the case. They must reach a decision by majority
vote. Then a justice is chosen to write down the opinion of what most justices
think. In many cases not all justices have the same opinion on a topic.
When the Supreme Court decides something it is final. All
the other courts in the country must decide an issue in the same way. A Supreme
Court ruling can be turned around in two ways. Sometimes the members of
Congress amend the constitution, or the Supreme Court itself may later on
decide differently in a similar case.
For example, in 1895
the Supreme Court ruled that the government was not allowed to collect taxes
from its citizens. Two decades later Congress passed the 16th Amendment, which
gave the government the right to collect money from the people.
In another issue the Supreme Court changed its view on what
it thought about how blacks and whites should live together. In 1896 it decided
that blacks and whites should have separate public places, like schools, bus
stops etc... In 1954 the court ruled that sending blacks and whites to
different schools was against the constitution.
0 comments:
Post a Comment