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Information about Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the
highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has
ultimate judicial authority within the United States to interpret and decide
questions of federal law. 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. The Supreme Court is
sometimes known by the acronym SCOTUS.

The Supreme Court is the only court required by the United States
Constitution. All other federal courts could legally be eliminated by
Congress, although the likelihood of this happening is minuscule. The
justices (currently nine) are appointed for life by the President of the
United States and confirmed by majority vote by the Senate. One of these
nine serves as Chief Justice; the remaining members are designated Associate Justices.

While the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in a few cases such as
suits between states, most of its work consists of reviewing cases from
state supreme courts or from lower federal courts, sometimes by direct
appeal, but most often by petition for a writ of certiorari. As with all
federal courts, the jurisdiction of the court is limited in terms of who may
be brought before the court (personal jurisdiction), and what claims may be
made (subject-matter jurisdiction). 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. Where the state case was
decided on an independent and adequate state ground, the Supreme Court will
not hear it.

When deciding a case, each judge can write their own opinion; all these
statements are made public. In practice, there is typically one majority
opinion in which several judges join and one or more dissenting opinions.
Usually, but not always, the judges sign the opinions. The opinions are
usually preceeded by a syllabus which concisely summaries the case and the
decision; the syllabus is not prepared by the judges and is not technically
part of the decision.

Supreme Court decisions are cited as in the following example: Roe v. Wade,
410 U.S. 113, 118 (1973). The opposing parties are listed, followed by the
number of the reporter volume in which the decision was published, followed
by "U.S." identifying the reporter for the U.S. Supreme Court, followed by
the page number in the reporter volume where the decision begins, followed
by the page number of the specific material we want to cite, followed by the
year the case was decided.

The listed names are given in the format "Appellant v. Appellee" Ð whereby
the appellant is the party who brings the appeal after having lost the
previous decision in the case, and the appellee is the party having
prevailed and against whom the appeal is brought. In cases involving a
federal agency (usually the U.S. Department of Justice), the head of the
agency is often the name used on the case, such as Ashcroft v. ACLU. The v.
stands for versus, latin for "against" Ð but when speaking, the full word is
usually used.

The current United States Supreme Court Justices are:

   * Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (appointed by Richard Nixon in 1972
     and elevated by Ronald Reagan in 1986);
   * Justice Stephen Breyer (appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994);
   * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (appointed by Clinton in 1993);
   * Justice Anthony Kennedy (appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1988);
   * Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981);
   * Justice Antonin Scalia (appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986);
   * Justice David Souter (appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1991);
   * Justice John Paul Stevens (appointed by Gerald Ford in 1975);
   * Justice Clarence Thomas (appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1990).

History

The United States Supreme Court has had a fascinating history that is richly
intertwined with U.S. history. The Supreme Court convened for the first time
on February 1, 1790 in New York City. The current United States Supreme
Court building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, and built between
1932 and 1935.

The Court achieved its current influence in the life of the United States
during the tenure of the 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 US 137 1803. On February 20, 1809 a decision
by the Supreme Court stated that the power of the federal government was
greater than any individual state.

John Marshall continued in office long enough to serve as Chief Justice
during President Andrew Jackson's term of office. His court found the policy
of Indian Removal to be unconstitutional, but Jackson replied: "John
Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it." Jackson was later
responsible for The Trail of Tears, in an unconstitutional defiance of a
Supreme Court ruling.

Congress determines the number of justices on the Court. Although the size
of the Supreme Court has been set at nine for many years, it has been
smaller in the past. On February 5, 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt
proposed to increase the size of the Court so he could appoint justices who
would support the constitutionality of his New Deal programs, but even
though much of the country approved of the New Deal, they did not approve of
his attempts to "pack the court," and the plan failed on July 22 when the
United States Senate voted down the plan.

Recently, the Supreme Court delivered a highly controversial 5-4 decision in
the Bush v. Gore case which determined the U.S. presidential election, 2000.

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