Supreme Court

 

In the video we watched in class, https://youtu.be/cWRoXYRsaeo , I found the statement that the power of the Supreme Court is earned trust resting on public faith to be the most important takeaway. I believe this to be so important because it is integral to understand how much power the government has in order to ensure the protection of individual rights. The following link has more information on the Supreme Court, the justices, and some of the more famous cases they have seen. https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts

America’s government is founded upon the voices of its people, therefore, the founding fathers established the judicial system to supervise the laws and lawfulness of actions taken by the other branches of government through interpretation of the constitution. The constitution directly lays out the rights of the citizens to ensure protection for Americans from other Americans and our own government. Americans have faith in the constitution, thus leading to Americans trusting the Supreme Court and their rulings. 

While American faith in the Supreme Court was not surprising to me, I found it very interesting that the Supreme Court can only take cases petitioned to them. The American government is very complicated, and many citizens are not fortunate enough to learn through school and personal studies well enough to understand it. That statement does not even cover the amount of people without enough access to financial resources and lawyers to aid in the processes required to bring a case to the Supreme Court. 

Out of all the cases brought to the Supreme Court, they only accept about 100 a year for full consideration. This statistic is new to me, as I never thought about how many cases the Supreme Court sees, let alone how many cases are brought to the Supreme Court for consideration.

The video deepened my critical thinking on the accessibility to the Supreme Court. We all know the many famous and influential cases they have seen, but what happens to all the lost ones? The video left me wondering about all the people who were falsely accused or could not accurately accuse perpetrators of the law. According to https://www.marketplace.org/2013/03/25/how-much-does-big-supreme-court-case-gay-marriage-cost/ , an average cost for an attorney in Washington D.C. is $100,000 to $250,000 an hour to even get the Supreme Court to consider a case. If the case reaches the Supreme Court prices for the process can be in the millions. This new found perception of the Supreme Court has me slightly disappointed, but also optimistic. I hope in the further development of our country adaptations are made for easier accessibility, despite financial and educational backgrounds.