The Founding Era

    Learning about the Supreme court has been fascinating for me, as my family is preparing to actually go to the North Carolina Supreme Court this coming February 2023. My father has been in a legal battle for six years against a large corporation, and the lawsuit will now be argued in the NC-SCOTUS.  I was not ever interested in the workings of the Supreme Court, but as my family’s lawsuit became more in-depth, the details of how the Supreme Court works became much more important to me.

    There were some details about the Supreme Court that I knew prior, but I did not know that “For more than 100 years after the foundation of the Supreme Court, the justices were required to hold circuit court twice a year in each judicial circuit.” That was a grueling task considering their modes of transportation those days were not exactly those of comfort. I also was unaware that the representing attorneys are only allowed 30 minutes per side to present their arguments. Since there are thousands of cases to be heard, it is understandable that a case is only allowed such a short period of time for argument.

    The most surprising thing I learned is in all of the two hundred years that the Supreme Court has been in existence, that with the basis of the First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing separation between church and state, the Supreme Court’s decisions are based on information that can and will continue to affect our nation positively, but can also negatively affect our nation’s future. Depending on where one stands, Roe vs. Wade stands out in my mind as one of the biggest, most significant cases in the history of our nation. Being a Supreme Court judge is a massive responsibility and requires one to be of immense intelligence. My hat is off to those who sit in these incredible duty positions.

    The videos we were able to watch allowed us to see inside the Supreme Court’s workings. It was intriguing but yet understandable why they have more than one judge. Researching has shown that at one time, there were as few as six judges, but since 1869 there have been nine judges.  Another fact that I found intriguing is when a Missouri slave named Dred Scott worked to claim his freedom under an act of congress. Under a Chief Justice named Roger Brook Taney, the court ruled that congress had no power to ban slavery and that African Americans could never be citizens. This particular ruling weakened the court’s authority for years. The Civil War broke out, and the Dred Scott case was remembered as one of the biggest blunders of the court system. After the war, it worked out to where the Constitution was amended, slavery was abolished, voting rights were put in place, and citizenship was defined.