Week 3: The Founding Era

 The United States Supreme Court is the highest in the country, which oversees the Judicial Branch of the US government, which was established in 1789 by the third article of the constitution. The role of the Supreme Court is to assess whether laws are constitutional, and if necessary the court may review actions of the Executive (Presidential) branch and the Legislative branch (congress.) 

The Court currently has nine justices, as it has since 1869; the highest of power being the Chief Justice. The role of the chief justice is to set the agenda for weekly meetings, sitting on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian and presiding over impeachment trials against the President in the Senate. The current Chief Justice is John Roberts, Jr. The other justices include Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch (all pictured below.)

Notable Justices:

John Marshall:

-Known for his big Role in Marbury v. Madison (1803); Defined relationship between judiciary with everyone else in government. 

-He established the Court's power to review federal laws and rule on constitutionality of these laws enacted by congress.

Charles Evans Hughes:

-Had power over the Court during its transition of protecting property rights to civil liberties

Earl Warren:

-Issued landmark decisions that helped ban segregation in schools (Brown v. Board of Education)

-Executed Miranda Rights (Miranda v. Arizona, "right to remain silent")

-Abolished prohibitions against interracial marriages (Loving v. Virginia)

William Howard Taft:

Only person to serve both President & Chief Justice

Notable cases:

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Ruled that African Americans could not be citizens, declared Dred Scott a slave.

Roe v. Wade (1973): Ruled that women have a right to an abortion during the first two trimesters

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): Legalized same-sex marriage across all 50 United States

Mapp v. Ohio (1961): Ruled that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in criminal cases

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): "separate but equal", Decision upheld state segregation laws

Sources:

https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/rights/info-10-2011/justices-on-the-supreme-court.html

https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts