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Encyclopedia :
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SU :
SUP :
Supreme Court of the United States |
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Supreme Court of the United States
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. Structure and powersThe powers of the Supreme Court are established in the first and second sections of Article Three of the Constitution: Article III
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. In those cases in which 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. Although not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, the Court is accepted to have the power of judicial review. The 1803 case Marbury v. Madison established that the Supreme Court can strike down laws passed by Congress that exceed Congress's constitutional powers. Although used reluctantly at first, this power has been frequently used in recent decades. , David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, and Antonin Scalia. ProceduresWhen 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 opinion "per curiam", 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 summarizes 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. Case reporters and citationsSupreme 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 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 "vee", sometimes as "versus", and sometimes as "against." In addition to the official United States Reports, Supreme Court cases are also reported in the Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct), published by West Publishing Company and including cases decided since 1882, and the United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition first and second editions (L.Ed. and L.Ed.2d), with cases since 1790 published by the Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company. Both include everything in the official United States Reports as well as editorial features such as annotations and topic headers. A case cite will often list in a parallel cite where the case can be found in all three reporters, as in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). The reporter of decisions is responsible for publication of the Court's rulings. See also court citation. Current JusticesAs of 2005, the United States Supreme Court Justices are: Justices Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas are generally considered to be the conservative wing of the court. Justices Souter, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Stevens are generally considered to the liberal wing. Justices Kennedy and O'Connor are typically seen as moderates, and hence are the swing votes who often determine the outcome of close cases. See also: List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Physical locationThe Supreme Court convened for the first time on February 1, 1790 in the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City. It moved to Philadelphia and finally to Washington, DC as the location of the national capital changed. For much of its history, it met in various spaces within the Capitol (and in a private house for a brief period when the Capitol was burned during the War of 1812). In 1935 it was finally moved to an independent structure more befitting its independent stature within the federal government, at the urging of William Howard Taft, who had been both President of the United States and Chief Justice. One commentator observed at the time that the building, located across the street from the Capitol, had fine high windows for the Court to throw the New Deal out of. The United States Supreme Court building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and built between 1932 and 1935. Marble for the court building was brought from Italy with personal assistance of Benito Mussolini. The building is currently undergoing the first renovation in its 70-year history, which is scheduled for completion in 2008. HistoryThe Court achieved its current influence in the life of the United States during the tenure of 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 in U.S. v. Peters stated that the power of the federal government was greater than any individual state. Furthermore, it began the process of judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to strike down laws of Congress it deemed unconstitutional. This model has been adopted by countries throughout the world. It is worth noting that the Supreme Court, unlike the Legislative or the Executive branches, has no budgetary or military power at its disposal. It relies solely upon respect for the Constitution for adherence to its judgments. 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 (behavior legal scholars call executive nonacquiescence). Nixon, however, complied. The last notable attempt to alter the number of justices was on February 5, 1937 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed an increase in the size of the Court to fifteen justices, one additional seat for each justice over age 70, to deal with a Court overturning of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. Many politicians at the time and historians since scorned this plan to "pack the court". The proposal failed on July 22 when the United States Senate voted against it. 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 the 2000 presidential election. The decision raised criticisms that the Court had overstepped its bounds by trying and failing to provide a judicial resolution for an intractable political dispute, much as the Court had attempted to do nearly 150 years earlier in Dred Scott v. Sanford. Justice Stevens' and Justice Breyer's dissenting opinions echoed this criticism, albeit faintly, by reference to the wound that the Court had inflicted on itself, an allusion to Charles Evans Hughes' description of the Dred Scott decision as a self-inflicted wound. As of December 2004, there has not been a vacancy on the bench for over ten years. However, with Justice Rehnquist's illness, there is much speculation over Potential nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States. Notable decisionsNotable statementsSee alsoExternal linksReferences
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