Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States to interpret and decide questions of federal law. It is head of the judicial branch of the United States Government. The other two branches of the United States Government are the executive branch and the legislative branch. The Supreme Court is sometimes known by the acronym SCOTUS.

The Supreme Court is the only court required by the United States Constitution. All other federal courts are created by Congress. The justices (currently nine) are appointed for life by the President of the United States and confirmed by majority vote by the Senate. One of these nine serves as Chief Justice; the remaining members are designated Associate Justices.

As with all federal courts, the jurisdiction of the court is limited. While the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in a few cases such as suits between states, most of its work consists of appellate review of cases from state supreme courts or from lower federal courts. Its jurisdiction is limited by Article III of the U.S. Constitution to "cases" and "controversies" arising under federal law. Thus, for example, cases that arise from the state supreme courts may only be heard by the United States Supreme Court if they present an issue of federal law. Where the state court decided the case on an independent and adequate state ground, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to hear it.

In addition, although the Constitution states the outer limits of the court's power, it also gives Congress the ability to limit its jurisdiction. Although Congress has authorized review of lower court decisions by direct appeal in limited circumstances, most cases are brought to the court by petition for a writ of certiorari, which the court has discretion to grant or deny. If the court grants certiorari, the case is placed on its calendar for briefing and oral argument. If the court denies certiorari, it does not decide the merits of the case, and the lower court's decision remains in force.

When deciding a case, each justice can write his or her own opinion; all these statements are made public. There is usually one opinion for the majority of the justices, which is designated the "Opinion of the Court". In addition to the majority opinion, there are often concurring and dissenting opinions. Usually, the majority opinion is signed by its author, but sometimes the court will issue an unsigned ("per curiam") opinion, particularly if it summarily reverses a lower court's decision without full briefing or oral argument. The majority opinion is usually preceded by a summary called a "syllabus", which concisely summarises the case and the decision. The syllabus is accompanied by a disclaimer that it is prepared by the reporter of decisions and does not constitute a part of the court's opinion.

The practice of issuing an opinion of the court was initiated during the tenure of Chief Justice John Marshall in the early nineteenth century. This replaced the previous practice by which each justice would announce a separate opinion. The former practice is still followed by appellate courts in many common law jurisdictions outside the United States.

Supreme Court decisions are cited as in the following example: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 118 (1973). The parts of the citation are as follows:

• the opposing parties (see below)
• the number of the reporter volume in which the decision was published
• "U.S.", signifying United States Reports, the official reporter for the U.S. Supreme Court
• the page number where the decision begins
• the page number(s) of the specific material cited
• the year the case was decided

The listed names are given in the format "Petitioner v. Respondent", where the petitioner is the party that requested certiorari after having lost the previous decision in the case, and the respondent is the party having prevailed in the lower court. Where the case has come to the court by an appeal of right, as in what is called "probable jurisdiction," the appealing party (the "appellant") is named first. In cases involving a federal agency (for example, the United States Department of Justice), the head of the agency is often named as a party to the case, such as Ashcroft v. ACLU. The v. stands for versus, Latin for "against." In speaking, it is sometimes read as "v", sometimes as "versus", and sometimes as "against."

The current United States Supreme Court Justices are:

• Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (appointed by Richard Nixon in 1972 and elevated by Ronald Reagan in 1986);
• Justice John Paul Stevens (appointed by Gerald Ford in 1975);
• Justice Stephen Breyer (appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994);
• Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981);
• Justice Antonin Scalia (appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986);
• Justice Anthony Kennedy (appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1988);
• Justice Clarence Thomas (appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1990).
• Justice David Souter (appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1991);
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993);

See also: List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

History

The Supreme Court convened for the first time on February 1, 1790 in New York City. The current United States Supreme Court building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, and built between 1932 and 1935.

The Court achieved its current influence in the life of the United States during the tenure of the Chief Justice John Marshall. He was appointed to the office by John Adams in the final days of Adams' presidency. As a political opponent of the Jeffersonian Republicans, Marshall delivered a number of opinions that they found uncongenial, strengthening the Judicial branch at the expense of the Executive branch and asserting the Court's monopoly on the interpretation of the Constitution. Foremost among these cases was Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803). On February 20, 1809 a decision by the Supreme Court stated that the power of the federal government was greater than any individual state.

John Marshall continued in office long enough to serve as Chief Justice during President Andrew Jackson's term of office. His court found the policy of Indian Removal to be unconstitutional, but Jackson replied: "John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it." Jackson was later responsible for the Trail of Tears, in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling. At the conclusion of United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), many feared that Richard Nixon would refuse to turn over the Watergate tapes and become the second president to defy the court.

Congress determines the number of justices on the Court. Although the size of the Supreme Court has been set at nine for many years, it has been smaller in the past. On February 5, 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt proposed to increase the size of the Court so he could appoint justices who would support the constitutionality of his New Deal programs. Even though much of the country approved of the New Deal, they did not approve of his attempts to "pack the court," and the plan failed on July 22 when the United States Senate voted down the plan.

Recently, the Supreme Court delivered a highly controversial 5-4 decision in Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), that ended weeks of bitter legal maneuvering between lower courts following 2000 presidential election.

Notable decisions:

• List of United States Supreme Court cases

Notable statements:

• Clear and present danger (free speech)
• Lemon Test (Establishment clause)
• Miller test for obscenity
• Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal)
• Corporate personhood

See also

• Executive branch
• Legislative branch

External links

• US Supreme Court official homepage
• All Supreme Court decisions since 1897, from FindLaw
• Biographies of the Justices
• Extensive collection of Supreme Court decisions, audio clips and biographies of all justices of the Court
• Teaching about the United States Supreme Court. ERIC Digest.
• Teaching about Landmark Dissents in United States Supreme Court Cases. ERIC Digest.
• Teaching the Law Using United States Supreme Court Cases. ERIC Digest.