Supreme Court (Overview)

The only court in the judicial branch that the U.S. Constitution mentions by name is the U.S. Supreme Court, and the document does not describe the Court in great detail. This left the elected branches with the power to settle upon many aspects of the Court itself, and of the judicial system of which it is a part. Functions of the Supreme Court Whereas the primary function of Congress is to make laws, and the primary function of the president is to enforce the law, the chief power of courts is to interpret and apply the laws to individual cases. Although legislators and presidents often initiate laws and regulations, courts have to wait for cases to come before them in the form of what Article III describes as "cases and controversies." Alexis de Tocqueville, an early 19th century French visitor to the United States who authored Democracy in America, noted, however, that almost all political issues in the United States ultimately ended up as legal issues. The modern Court has had to decide on issues as diverse as racial segregation, abortion, prayer in schools, free speech in schools, affirmative action policies, end-of-life decisions, capital punishment, and a myriad of other matters. The U.S. Supreme Court serves as the final court of appeal from federal courts of appeal and from federal cases being appealed from state supreme courts. Because it has the final word, lower courts recognize the need to align their decisions with Supreme Court rulings. Article III of the U.S. Constitution specifies a limited number of cases that the Supreme Court hears as part of its original jurisdiction, that is for the first time, but it hears more than 90% of its cases on appeal. Judicial review Claiming a power that the Constitution does not specifically articulate but is consistent with its role in checking and balancing the elected branches of government and in securing federal control over conflicting state legislation, U.S. courts, including the Supreme Court, exercise the power of judicial review. This enables them to declare acts of government officials or legislation passed by Congress or state legislatures to be unconstitutional. Absent a reversal by the Court itself, such rulings remain in force unless and until two thirds of both houses of Congress propose and three fourths of the states ratify a constitutional amendment to reverse the Court, as they have done on at least four occasions throughout U.S. history. When the Court exercises its power of statutory interpretation to interpret the language of a law differently than Congress thinks it intended, it can simply rewrite the law, assuming it is not also unconstitutional. Membership of the Court The Constitution does not specify the number of Supreme Court justices (the number has ranged from six to 11), but the number has been at nine since 1869, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's attempt to expand the court by adding one justice, up to 15, for every justice over the age of 70 failed. While the people either directly or indirectly elect legislators and presidents, the president appoints members of the judiciary with the "advice and consent" of the U.S. Senate. The Senate takes its role especially seriously when it comes to Supreme Court justices. Whereas legislators and presidents serve for fixed terms, judges serve "during good behavior," that is until retirement, death, or conviction by the U.S. Senate for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and

misdemeanors. Although one U.S. Supreme Court justice has been impeached by the House of Representatives, none has ever been convicted of an impeachable offense by a two-thirds vote of the U.S. Senate and removed from office; the Senate has convicted and removed a number of lower court judges. The Constitution specifies that the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court shall preside over impeachment trials of the president in the U.S. Senate, but the chief's other duties have largely developed from customs and usages. The chief is generally regarded as primus inter pares, or first among equals. When a chief dies or resigns, the president nominates a new one. Sometimes the president elevates someone already on the Court, as Ronald Reagan did when he nominated William Rehnquist for the post in 1986. On other occasions, the president goes outside the Court for a new nominee, as George W. Bush did in nominating John Roberts in 2005. Selection of justices Because the Supreme Court's decisions are so important, appointments to the Court are often highly controversial, and the Senate has rejected, and presidents have had to withdraw, numerous nominees. Perhaps because federal judges and justices are appointed rather than elected, the U.S. Constitution does not outline minimum age, residence, and citizenship requirements for them as it does for the president and members of Congress, but all recent appointees have had law degrees, and almost all have had prior judicial experience, despite continuing academic debate about how important such experience is. In addition to focusing on legal merit, presidents typically attempt to choose justices that they think are aligned with their own philosophies, but once justices are appointed, judicial tenure and protection against cuts in pay allow justices to make decisions free from partisan considerations. Presidents have traditionally sought geographical balance on the Court. Modern presidents have also been cognizant of other balancing considerations. There has been an African American justice since President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Court in 1967, and at least one woman since President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981, and there has almost always been one or more Jewish justices since Woodrow Wilson appointed Louis Brandeis in 1916. President Barack Obama's appointment of Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 is generally recognized as marking the appointment of the first Hispanic on the Court. Further Reading
Abraham, Henry J. Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Bush II, 4th ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2007; Abraham, Henry Julian. The Judicial Process: An Introductory Analysis of the Courts of the United States, England, and France. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993; Hall, Kermit L., ed. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005; O'Brien, David M. Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics, 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008; Schultz, David, John R. Vile, and Michelle D. Deardorff. Institutions, Politics, and Process, Volume I of Constituitonal Law in Contemporary America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Citation: Vile, John R. "Supreme Court (Overview)." In American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2000.

Accessed November 17, 2013. http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/.