Blog Post #2

         

   The Inner Workings of the Supreme Court

I learned a lot from watching Part 1 and Part 2 of the supreme court videos. One thing that surprised me was the way that the court actually worked together. My thinking had always been that because the court was appointed by different presidents, as the video mentioned, that they would hold the views of the president that appointed them in consideration. Instead, I found that all of the judges were quite non-biased in their decisions and quite attentive to the intricacies and wording of the commanding document the Constitution. I also gained a lot of knowledge on the actual decision-making process, I thought it was kind of a unanimous decision type of process, but there is actually a great deal of deliberation and consideration that the judges do. Of course, this process can only allow for a certain number of cases to be seen at a time. I did not know the actual large quantity of petitions they received in a year and just how many they had to turn away. 

Again when it comes to the decision and announcement on a case, I was surprised that only one person would write up a report, and then in some cases, people who did not agree with the final decision would write dissents. I have read one dissent on a case from a long time ago, I found it refreshing that the judges even if they were in the minority were given this opportunity to give their opinions and rebuttals.