The Supreme Court

 

Powerful but Humane: An Analysis of The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and I would argue that the everyday American citizen does not know much about it. In recent years, the Supreme Court has received a large amount of backlash for the decision to overturn Roe v Wade in 2022. Since this landmark Supreme Court case's overturning, I have become more interested in learning what it is that the Supreme Court actually does. York Associates Television created a 20 minute long video that looks into the lives of Supreme Court Justices and is quite informative. 

The earlier mentioned video taught me key things as an American that I am honestly embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know. Firstly, I think it is important to note that I walked away more appreciative of the decisions that Supreme Court Justices have to make weekly. Prior to this video, I believed that they only convened once every couple of months and that it was the easiest job to have. Newsflash! It's not, and I for one could not imagine sitting in their seats and only being able to select a few hundred cases a year to review. 

One of the most important takeaways I have and that I believe is important for every citizen of the United States to understand, is that the Supreme Court does not go out looking for ways to make our lives difficult or ways to make the most unpopular decisions. Instead, they make decisions on cases that are brought before them -which I think is very important to note because we go to them for their judgements. It is not the other way around in which they force their judgments onto us. 

The video is also great to watch because it humanizes the judges as well. Usually when I picture a Justice, I picture a grumpy older white man with no regards to anyone else's thoughts. However, they're more grounded in decisions they make in comparison to many of us in our day to day life. At the start of each meeting, they shake one another's hand. It is so shocking that individuals with this much power can take the time to ground themselves before speaking, and it's something that I urge everyone to do before discussing heavy topics. 

I for one, now realize how important The Supreme Court is and why it is such of a powerful but humane position. Powerful because they're the highest court in the land, tasked with upholding the Constitution, but yet realizing when change needs to happen. Humane because like us, they're human too and show compassion for one another before speaking.