SCOTUS History

 1/19/2022

History of the Supreme Court

When I was reading about the history of the Supreme Court from the article written by the History Channel, it reminded me of how much our nation truly needs a court of this importance. As an American in our day and age, having the Supreme Court around has always been a constant. But I often times find myself forgetting that this great nation did not always have it around to help equalize the decisions made in court. 

Something I learned about the Supreme Court that I did not know is that the court did not hear any cases during its first term, from this article. Thinking about it now, that makes total sense. The court probably had no idea how to go about those cases without any procedures in place. According to the History Channel, the Supreme Court heard their first case on August 3, 1791. Over a year and a half after its official start date, which was February 2, 1790. 

The most important takeaway point from the Supreme Court is evident in the case of Marbury vs. Madison. An article from the History Channel does an excellent job of summarizing this case. In this particular case, the court found that the rights of Marbury had been overstepped by Jefferson. The important takeaway from this case is that it helped institute the Supreme Court and the amount of weight its decisions hold. 

The thing that I learned from this article that surprised me the most is that the institution and assembly of the Supreme Court took such a short amount of time. It took over two years for it to be officially established and have the first case heard. It seems like it would have taken a longer time for the court to get started and hear cases, based on the era it was founded in. 

This article helped change the way I thought about the Supreme Court by drawing attention to its necessity. The Supreme Court is the highest place a court case can go. And after reading this article, one can see the need for a court of this caliber for hearing the serious cases that can effect our rights as Americans.