The Founding Era

Prior to watching the video about the history and workings of the U.S. Supreme Court, I had a relatively basic idea of the justice system and the responsibilities of the Supreme Court Justices, or at least I thought I did.  The U.S. Supreme Court has nine justices and the Justices have a lot of responsibility.

One famous court case, Dred Scott v. Sanford is one of the most well-known cases in history.  The court case was around the time of the Civil War.  The court case found that Congress had no power to  ban slavery and that blacks could never be citizens.  After the war the Constitution was amended to grant voting rights, abolish slavery and define citizenship.  The 14th Amendment told the states they could not deny due process of law or equal protection of law to any citizen.

One thing about the video was I thought it refreshing to hear Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist talk about how he implemented a rule that everyone must speak once before anyone spoke twice.  Supreme Court Justices oftentimes may be discussing a persons livelihood, and if there is no order or balance to the discussion, all the opinions present may not be genuinely heard.  Every single Justice is a different person with their own opinion that should be heard.  That particular moment in the video showed that although the Justices may have different personalities, perspectives and opinions, they still try to find a way to respect each other's opinions.

Watch Part 1

Watch Part 2