The Supreme Court: What It Is, What It Does, and Why It Matters

The Supreme Court is said to be the highest court in the United States. But what does that mean?

The Supreme Court of the United States (also referred to as SCOTUS) is the most powerful court in the United States. The court has 9 justices who stay on the court until they retire, or commit a crime (though a Supreme Court justice has yet to be kicked off the court for misconduct). The court is considered the most powerful because of the two ways the court is able to hear cases: its appellate and original jurisdiction. A court's jurisdiction is its extent of power in what decisions it's allowed to make. The Supreme Court's extent of power extends all throughout the United States, but in order for a case to be heard, it has to go through some hoops.

Appellate jurisdiction is the courts power to hear cases that have been appealed from lower federal or state supreme courts. If a case is brought to the court under its appellate jurisdiction, it means a party was dissatisfied with the previous ruling and thought that something had went wrong during trial. The things that could have gone wrong could be a misinterpretation of the law, an improper jury instruction (this could be an objection during court was overruled/sustained and the issue was a vital part of the case), a judge abusing their discretion, or evidence that wasn't allowed being brought into court. The rules of appeal are very precise, and in order for a case to be brought to appeal, the appellant (or party who is appealing the case) must voice their concerns of a rule violation on the record. These rule violations stem from the appelant believing a judge interpreted a law or the constitution incorrectly. Once the case has been appealed through all the lower courts and one of the parties still disagrees with the ruling, there is one last court that will hear their case. That's the Supreme Court.

For the Supreme Court to hear their case, the appellant must tell the court why they should even want to. They do this through filing a writ of certiorari (or writ of cert). A cert is a petition that explains what happened in the lower court, the issue at hand, and why the Supreme Court should hear the case. The Supreme Court will typically receive 8,000-10,000 cases per term, yet will only hear about 100 of those cases. The writ of cert must compel at least 4 of the 9 justices to want to hear the case and give their two cents on what this law or part of the constitution means.

The cases that are brought to the court this way are usually the ones that affect the general public, as opposed to cases brought to the court through original jurisdiction. Cases brought through original jurisdiction are quiet boring (in my not so humble opinion) because they are usually slow and technical cases that don't concern the public all that much. This is because they are cases that are brought directly to the Supreme Court. These cases don't go through the appellate process because they're don't necessarily fall under one state or federal court's jurisdiction. Cases that fall under the court's original jurisdiction can be summarized into two categories:

1. Cases that involve disputes between two or more states

2. Cases that involve ambassadors, public ministers, or consuls

The court will tell the parties how they interpreted the question on the law at hand and explain their reasoning behind their decision. The explanation they provide can be cited in any future case. These explanations are important to lawyers who may be given similar cases. Lawyers use the Supreme Court's interpretation of laws in previous cases to instruct judges on how they should interpret the law in their current case.

So why should you care about the Supreme Court? A lot of these cases may seem far divorced from how you live your day to day, but the rulings that court makes affect the laws and amendments of the constitution that congress passes. More attention has been given to the Supreme Court in light of its recent decisions, but the attention should stay on the court to ensure the decisions don't deviate too far from the public's interest.