The Founding Era

    To be honest, I did not know much about the Supreme Court before reading History.com's SCOTUS History. The following are a couple of key points that I learned from reading the article:

• The Supreme Court was established in 1789 by Article Three of the Constitution.
• The Constitution states the Congress holds the power to decide how the Court is organized.
• Supreme Court justices are nominated by the President and confirmed or decided by the Senate.
• The first Supreme Court had six justices, but the number of justices has changed throughout the years based on decisions by Congress. The current number of Supreme Court Justice seats is nine.
• The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the highest judicial position in the U.S. This justice is the head of the Supreme Court and creates the agenda each week for the court.
• Justices serve on the court until the end of their life or their decision to retire.

The Current Supreme Court Justices
In Order From Left to Right
Front Row: Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and Elena Kagan
Back Row: Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

    I think the most important take-away I learned about the Supreme Court is that both the Legislative and Executive Branches of government have a say in the Judicial Branch, which includes the Supreme Court. For the Legislative Branch, Congress is able to decide how the court is organized, and the Senate has the power to confirm or deny justice nominees. For the Executive Branch, the President is the one who nominates judges for the position of justice. I think that this is the most important piece of information I learned because it shows how the system of checks and balances plays an important role in our government.

    The most surprising thing I learned was that the Supreme Court first met at the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City. Since today Washington D.C. is known as the home of the Supreme Court, I guess I just assumed that the court had always met there. It really surprised me that they met in New York City and specifically in the Merchants Exchange Building. 

    The article changed the way I think about the Supreme Court because I now have a better understanding about how the Supreme Court was established and how it has changed since its early days. I now know that the Supreme Court is established by Article Three of the Constitution. I also know that the number of justice seats has changed over the years ranging from five to ten. I know that there is a Chief Justice who presides over the court. These are all pieces of information about the history of the court that I did not know previously. 

    Reading this article made me realize that I do not have as great a knowledge as I would like to about the history of of government and how it operated today. It has really inspired me to educate myself further on the three branches of government, and I am glad that I have already expanded my knowledge of the Supreme Court/the Judicial Branch.