Blog Post #2: The U.S. Supreme Court

    After watching the videos about the U.S. Supreme Court, I learned a lot more about how the Court actually works. One thing I did not know before was that the Supreme Court does not hear every case that is appealed to it. Instead, the justices choose which cases they think are most important. I also learned that the power of judicial review came from the case Marbury v. Madison, which allowed the Court to decide whether laws are constitutional. To learn more about this landmark case, I looked at information from Oyez's Marbury v. Madison overview.

    The most important takeaway from the videos is that the Supreme Court helps make sure that no branch of government becomes too powerful. The Court has the ability to review laws and government actions and decide if they follow the Constitution. Because of this, the Supreme Court plays a major role in protecting the rights of citizens and maintaining the balance of power in the government.

    The most surprising thing I learned was how few cases the Supreme Court actually hears each year. Thousands of cases are sent to the Court, but only a small number are selected. I was surprised by how much freedom the justices have when deciding which cases they will hear and how those decisions can affect people across the country.

    The videos changed the way I think about the Supreme Court because I used to see it as just a group of judges making decisions about legal cases. Now I understand that the Court has a much larger impact on the country. Its decisions can influence laws, rights, and important issues for many years. Overall, the videos helped me better understand why the Supreme Court is such an important part of the American government.