Importance of the U.S. Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court is the highest and most powerful federal court in the nation. The rulings of the Supreme Court cannot be appealed, as it serves as a last resort for court cases. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court still receives about 7,000 cases each year, only about 100 of which get accepted. Each Supreme Court case is built on the country's Constitution, written over 200 years ago. This ensures that the court will rule a case constitutional or unconstitutional, following the morals that the country set out for its people.

The court is made up of nine justices, a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Chief Justice officiates all arguments before the Supreme Court, and arranges the agenda for the court's meetings. The duties of the Chief Justice along with the Associate Justices are considering and voting on cases before the Supreme Court. Every case is heard in the public, and lawyers are allowed on each side of the case to make their allegations for thirty minutes. Each of the justices can question the lawyers and their clients.

After it is presented before the court, the Supreme Court Justices privately discuss and vote on the case at hand. The justices can decide to take the case, and the majority of them must write an opinion that explains the constitutional reasons for making their decision. If justices on the minority side would like to state their opinion for disagreeing, they may do that as well. The opinions are sent to the Supreme Court for review, and cases are reviewed for generally two to six months, sometimes longer. After the reviewing process is completed, action takes place and the public is notified.