The Supreme Court- Blog Post 2

 The Supreme Court is something that troubles many people even me. Throughout all of the social studies classes I have taken, I have been troubled by the lifelong service and even how the constitution can be stretched and interpreted. These videos did help me to understand more of what the Supreme Court is all about. When I started all I knew was there were nine justices and it was the highest court in all of the land. 

The first thing that I learned when I started the video was that when a new justice arrives there is a period where the justice will have to embody themselves and handle their dilemmas. When someone figures out their dilemmas it can lead to controversy that no Supreme Court justice can avoid. Starting with John Marshall who is probably the most famous Supreme Court justice, controversy cannot be avoided. When determining if something is constitutional or not it all lies in the hands of the nine justices and the whole United States even the president can do nothing but wait for their decision. Another thing I never understood is the justices are called to draw the boundaries for the government as well. They decide how far the Constitution can bend, but only how far it can change which is very interesting. 

The most important takeaway from the Supreme Court in my eyes is that when a decision is made it can either weaken or strengthen the court. In the Dread Scott decision the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in Federal court. This was a pit for the Supreme Court because this ruling would not be undone until the Civil War was over and slavery was abolished through the Constitution and the 14th Amendment. 

The most surprising thing that I learned within the Supreme Court is that it is a life sentence there is no way to get rid of justices who may be a little too old to handle these large cases. This falls into a line states in the video, that controversy for the Supreme Court will always be there. In the end, it's surprising to me that someone with dementia could serve on the supreme court with no rules to remove them. 

The video changed the way I thought of the Supreme Court due to the fact that these justices have to work hard on these cases and think in a way not too many people can. Whether it's determining constitutionality or how much power the government has on a particular subject. I always thought that the justices sat around and their cases were very easy, but that is not the case at all and they work hard and are under tons of pressure.