The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court consists of nine justices, one of which is the Chief justice. It is nine people so that there is always a majority and no ties. What would happen if there were only eight justices and they came to a 4 – 4 decision? So because there is an odd number there will always be a majority. The Supreme Court has the power to create explain and apply the laws at hand. They decide whether or not something is illegal or unconstitutional.

One of the powers the Supreme Court has is called ‘judicial review’ which allows them to overturn state laws and also laws passed by congress. In one of my previous posts and the legal system, the Supreme Court is part of checks and balances system, so that not one branch of government has power over another.

I think the supreme court should have varying opinion because all nine justices were conservative, they have would conservative viewpoints, and the same goes for liberal views and even gender based views. It’s good that women have been appointed as a justice because it shows a step in the right direction. This also applies to different religions and races. We need different viewpoints so that the decisions aren’t clouded by a majority but by careful thought, reason, and historic or past events. The fact that the Supreme Court is something that has power over another just means that there must be variation.

In the movie “First Monday In October,” there has been a female appointed as a court justice. She is very conservative and by the book. On the other hand, one of the male justices is very liberal and a humanist. They have conflicting viewpoints which are clearly set apart from one another. Because of the conflicting viewpoints there will be more thought process put into the overall decision. And that is a very good thing in my opinion because if everybody agreed on the same thing, then there would be no point in going over the subject at hand.