The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the head of the judicial branch of the U.S. government. It consists of nine justices and has the power to check the other two branches of government. It was “established in 1789 by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution, which also granted Congress the power to create inferior federal courts” (History.com).
The first Supreme Court justices were sworn in my President George Washington. The original Court only had six justices including Chief Justice John Jay and were to serve until they retired or died. It wasn’t until 1869 that Congress set the seat number to nine and it has remained that way until today. Their first meeting was on February 2nd, 1790 and were only tasked to work on organization procedures.
They made their first decision on a case on August 3rd, 1971 in West v. Barnes. It was a dispute between a “farmer and a family he owed a debt to” (History.com).
Over the last 200 years, the Supreme Court has ruled on many important cases that have impacted the county. In 1896, (Dred Scott v. Sandford) they upheld state segregation laws. In 1962, (Engel v. Vitale) they ruled that prayer was not legally allowed to be initiated by public schools in order to not violate the First Amendment.
They have been and still are ruling on important cases in order to uphold civil rights and the U.S. Constitution. In just 2015, (Obergefell v. Hodges) they legalized dame-sex marriage across all 50 states. The Supreme Court provides the citizens of the U.S. the security that someone will stand up for their rights and try to keep the other branches of government in line.
https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts
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