Supreme Court of the United States

2009-06-20T15:47:22Z

TKisaDiseasedRectum: Undo revision 676734 by Aschlafly (Talk) restoring important claptrap

[[Image:Supreme Court.jpg|thumb|200px|US Supreme Court Building]]
The '''Supreme Court of the United States''' (SCOTUS) is the highest court of the judiciary of the [[United States of America]]. Between 1800 and 1935, it met primarily in the basement of the United States [[Capitol]] building, then in the Old Senate Chamber, until it moved into its present location at One First Street NE, [[Washington, D.C.]]. Despite being considered a weak organization in its earlier years, it has become a powerhouse that has taken the lead on issues of social justice.

==Structure==
The Court is currently composed of eight [[Associate Justice]]s and one [[Chief Justice of the United States of America|Chief Justice]]. To assist them there are many clerks, guards, and staff. Cases are heard ''[[en banc]]'' whenever the Court is in session. Historians generally divide Court history into eras named after the Chief Justice then presiding (e.g., the [[Rehnquist Court]]).
[[Image:SCOTUS.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Supreme Court of the United States, 2007 Back Row (l-r):Breyer, Thomas, Bader-Ginsburg, Alito Front Row(l-r):Kennedy, Stevens, Roberts, Scalia, Souter]]
Justices are appointed by the U.S. [[President]] with the advice and approval of the [[U.S. Senate]]. Justices must be approved by a simple majority of the Senate.

A list of pending cases to be heard on their merits by the Supreme Court, also known as petitions for which [[certiorari]] has been granted, is available on its website.<ref>[http://www.supremecourtus.gov/orders/07grantednotedlist.pdf Cases pending for the 2007 term]</ref> For a list of petitions granted and to be heard in fall 2007, see [[2007 Cert. Granted]].

==Opinions==
Prior to the [[Marshall Court]], the Court issued [[opinion|opinions]] in ''seriatim''. This means that each Justice wrote his own opinion and delivered it from the bench. Currently, the Court issues one opinion, said to be "the opinion of the Court". Opinions tend to have the history of the case, followed by the Court's reasoning and action. Generally the opinion will be written by a member of the majority, chosen by either the Chief Justice or the most senior Justice in the majority.

When a majority of Justices agrees to the opinion, it is called the [[Majority Opinion|majority opinion]]. Occasionally, a majority of Justices agrees to the [[remedy]], yet a minority of Justices agrees with the main opinion. This is called a [[plurality opinion]].

Justices that disagree with the Court's action can and frequently do write [[dissenting opinion]]s, which state their objections to the ruling. When a Justice agrees with an action, but not the reasoning behind it, he may write a concurring opinion, which states the reasoning he would have used. Such opinions have no bearing on the case at bar, but are often used later in time as justification for legal rulings.

==Conservative and liberal votes==
[[File:Judges-over-time.jpg|thumb|200px|How judges became more conservative (moving up) or liberal (moving down) over time. Click to enlarge.]]

Four of the five most conservative justices to serve on the court since 1937, out of a total of 43 justices, are on the court right now: Chief Justice [[John Roberts]] and Justices [[Antonin Scalia]], [[Clarence Thomas]] and [[Samuel Alito]] The fifth was Chief Justice [[William Rehnquist]], whom Chief Justice Roberts replaced in 2005.<ref> see Adam Liptak, "To Nudge, Shift or Shove the Supreme Court Left," [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/weekinreview/01liptak.html?_r=1&hp ''New York Times'' Jan. 31, 2009] Data from a 2008 study by William M. Landes, who teaches law and economics at the University of Chicago, and conservative Judge Richard A. Posner of the federal appeals court. </ref> Looking at votes in divided cases on ideologically charged issues like criminal procedure, civil rights and the First Amendment shows Justice Thomas, the most conservative justice. He voted for the conservative position in those cases 82% of the time. Justice Marshall, the only other African-American to serve on the court, was by this measure the most liberal, voting for the conservative side 21% of the time.

In ten of the last eleven appointments, the new justice was more conservative than the one replaced.

==Current Members==
{|
|
{|class="wikitable"
!Name!!Date of Accession!!Appointed by!!Title!!General ideology
|-
|[[John Paul Stevens]]||December 19, 1975|||[[Gerald Ford]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[liberal]]
|-
|[[Antonin Scalia]]||September 26, 1986|||[[Ronald Reagan]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[conservative]]
|-
|[[Anthony Kennedy]]||February 18, 1988|||[[Ronald Reagan]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||moderate/swing
|-
|[[David Souter]]||October 9, 1990|||[[George H. W. Bush]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[liberal]]
|-
|[[Clarence Thomas]]||October 23, 1991|||[[George H. W. Bush]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[conservative]]
|-
|[[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]]||August 10, 1993|||[[Bill Clinton]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[liberal]]
|-
|[[Stephen Breyer]]||August 3, 1994|||[[Bill Clinton]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[liberal]]
|-
|[[John Roberts]]||September 29, 2005|||[[George W. Bush]]|||[[Chief Justice of the United States of America|Chief Justice]]|||[[conservative]]
|-
|[[Samuel Alito]]||January 31, 2006|||[[George W. Bush]]|||[[Associate Justice]]|||[[conservative]]
|-
|}

==See Also==
*[[State supreme court]], usually the corresponding court in a [[state court]] system

==Further Reading==
* Hall, Kermit L., ed. ''The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Supreme-United-States/dp/0195176618/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233525239&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search], complete text online at many academic libraries.
** Patrick, John J. ed. ''The Young Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States'' (1994)
* Hall, Kermit L., and James W Ely Jr., eds. ''The Oxford Guide to United State Supreme Court Decisions'' (2009) [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Guide-United-Supreme-Decisions/dp/019537939X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233525239&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search], complete text online at many academic libraries.
* Rehnquist, William H. ''The Supreme Court'' (2002), a popular introduction [http://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Court-William-H-Rehnquist/dp/0375708618/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233525459&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Savage, David G. ''Turning Right: The Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court'' (1993) [http://www.amazon.com/Turning-Right-Making-Rehnquist-Supreme/dp/0471595535/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233525459&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]

== References ==

<references/>

[[category:United States Supreme Court Cases]]
[[category:United States Supreme Court]]
[[Category:United States Law]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:New Deal]]
[[Category:Reagan Era]]
[[Category:United States History]]

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Supreme Court of the United States