CHAPTER 11 SECTION 3: THE SUPREME COURT

THE SUPREME COURT Article III of the Constitution created the Supreme Court. Nowadays getting nominated to the SCOTUS is a high honor, but during Washington’s presidency many of his nominees turned down the job. Until 1891, justices earned much of their money riding the circuit, or traveling to hold court in their assigned regions of the country. Today, the Court hears all its cases in the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C., and meet in a nearby conference room to decide cases.

SUPREME COURT JURISDICTION SCOTUS has both original and appellate jurisdiction. The Court’s original jurisdiction comes into play for two types of cases: Cases involving representatives of foreign governments and certain cases in which a state is a party. Only about 5 cases a year use the Court’s original jurisdiction, most others come from its appellate jurisdiction.

CRUNCHWRAP SUPREME COURT JUSTICES SCOTUS is composed of 9 justices: 1 chief justice and 8 associate justices. Congress has the ability to change this number, but since 1869 it has been 9. The current chrunchwrap Supreme Court justices are: Anthony Kennedy (appointed by Reagan), Clarence Thomas (appointed by Bush 41), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (appointed by Bill Clinton), Stephen Breyer (appointed by Bill Clinton), Chief Justice John G. Roberts (appointed by W.), Samuel A Alito Jr. (appointed by W.), Sonia Sotomayor (appointed by Obama), and Elena Kagan (appointed by Obama). Justices serve life terms, but they can be impeached if they are found guilty of “treason, bribery, or other high misdemeanors.”

DUTIES OF THE JUSTICES The main duty of the justices is to hear and rule on cases. This duty involved 3 decision making tasks: Deciding which cases to hear, decide the case itself, and determine an explanation for the decision, called the Court’s opinion. The chief justice has other duties as well such as presiding over sessions and conferences when cases are discussed, leads judicial work, and helps administer the federal court system. Justices can take on additional responsibilities if they can handle the workload. In1945 Justice Robert Jackson served as chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. In 1963 Chief Justice Earl Warren headed a special commission that investigated the assassination of President Kennedy.

LAW CLERKS In 1882 Justice Horace Gray hired the 1 st law clerk to be his servant and barber. Today law clerks read all appeals filed with the Court and write memos summarizing the key issues in each case, they also prepare the Court’s opinion on a decided case by doing research and sometimes writing 1 st drafts of the opinions.

BACKGROUND OF THE JUSTICES Justice’s usually have a law degree and considerable legal experience. Most have been state or federal judges or held other court-related positions The Constitution does not say that justices need to be born in the US, so 6 justices have been born outside of the US and 3 of these were appointed by George Washington.

THE ROLE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA) The American Bar Association (ABA) is the largest national organization of attorneys. The role of the ABA is solely to evaluate the professional qualifications of candidates for all Article III judicial positions – The Supreme Court, US Courts of Appeals, and the US District Courts. The committee rates nominees as either “well qualified,” “qualified,” or “not qualified.”

THE ROLE OF OTHER INTEREST GROUPS Interest groups make their positions on nominees known through their lobbyists and media. The National Organization for Women (NOW) may oppose a nominee who is considered to be against women’s rights, this was the case with President Ford’s selection of John Paul Stevens in The Senate still confirmed Stevens despite NOW’s worries.