Supreme Court Video

While I was already decently familiar with the Supreme Court, there were still a couple things in the video that surprised me. The first of which was that the prosecution and defense each only have 30-minute oral arguments.

Illustration of an oral argument before the Supreme Court

I had made the assumption that cases in the Supreme Court were organized in a similar manner to regular courtroom cases. Of course, they aren't, and looking back I should have figured they'd be short out of necessity. On the Supreme Court's website, it says that up to 24 cases can be argued in two weeks!

Another thing that surprised me is the process by which opinions are drafted and released. I had also assumed that opinions were almost always written a short time after a case is heard and that they were written solely by the Justices. With the number of cases that the Justices have to hear, convene, decide and write opinions about, that's not a realistic expectation.

Instead, opinions can take months to write (if needed). The only real time limit for when an opinion has to be released is before the end of the term in which the case was heard, which is in June. The Justices also have clerks and assistants to help them write their opinions. I wonder how much of the wording in the Court's opinions is solely from the Justices.

Pictured: Chief Justice Roger B. Taney and Dred Scott

The video also mentioned the Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) case as an incorrect ruling which is, rightfully, viewed as terrible. This made me wonder what other rulings by the Supreme Court are viewed as terrible today.

Of course, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) which established segregation laws with the "separate but equal ruling" is viewed as abhorrent. In Buck v. Bell (1927), the court approved state-mandated forced sterilization for the mentally disabled. The Supreme Court also approved internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II in Korematsu v. United States (1944).

I'm glad we watched this video because it corrected some of my incorrect assumptions and was an impetus for me to do some very interesting reading. The Supreme Court is one of the most intriguing parts of our government, and I hope we learn more about it in this course.