Our story here concerns the highest body of law and justice in the United States: The Supreme Court. Now, I know what you are thinking: Dalton, WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME LEARN ABOUT SOMETHING I DON'T GIVE A RIP OF?????!!!!! Well, first that's kind of hostile, and second, if you have been paying any sort of attention to the news in the past few weeks, you probably will see a bunch of headlines about showdowns in Congress and the "fragile" state that it is in. And with the recent retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer and Senate Republicans/Democrats squabbling over the idea of placing a Black woman on the court, it would be of vital importance to talk about the Supreme Court today. Mainly, we'll try to answer a few very basic questions: Why is it important to learn about the SCOTUS, what is the impact SCOTUS has had in America, and moving forward on how we can fix any problems the Court has, and there are a lot of problems. 

Firstly, a quick history: the Supreme Court was created through the Judicial Act of 1789 to institute a federal judiciary which would be the nation's highest judicial tribunal. After President George Washington signed the law, 5 Associate Justices and 1 Chief Justice were appointed: Rutledge, Cushing, Harrison, Wilson, and Blair.  John Jay was appointed Chief Justice. For decades after that, the Court was not "used" in major decisions until the landmark Dred Scott v Sandford in 1848 which helped build the launching pad for the Civil War. Under Chief Justices Hughes, Stone, and Vinson, 1930-1953, the Court shifted toward the left and in a much more partisan way than any other SCOTUS term. By the way, SCOTUS means the Supreme Court of the United States. Under and during the Roosevelt and Truman Administrations, the Court turned to a centralized and more powerful government. Massive amounts of legislation were passed until 1936 when a conservative majority blocked important pieces of Roosevelt's New Deal. Frustrated with this, Roosevelt attempted to pack the court with his own justices to make sure his plans were passed. By this time, the Court had moved to 9 justices instead of 6. Throughout the Civil Rights movement, and 1970s, the Court stayed to the left for an unprecedented 40 years.

But then came Ronald Reagan.  

Reagan saw the court as too liberal, so basically told justices to leave, and some did leave. He placed Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy on the Court, as well as elevating William Rehnquist to Chief Justice. The Rehnquist Court was radically more conservative than the already presumed conservative Burger Court. They struck down the 2000 election problems and challenged the ruling of Roe v Wade. Original following of the Constitution was at the core of the Court from the 80s and onward. While presidents tried to tip the scale for the next 2 decades, the nail in the coffin of partisan direction came in the form of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. McConnell, then Senate Majority Leader had blocked President Obama's nominee, Garland, and put conservative favorite Neil Gorsuch in place. Then came Brett Kavanaugh and the rushed confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett who lurched the Supreme Court to the right with a conservative 6-3 majority for probably the next couple of decades. 

The black and white portrait to the left is of famed justice and liberal icon, William O. Douglas, who is often cited as the Supreme Court's most liberal justice   

So why is it important to know of the Court and what is the impact it has had. The Supreme Court, though far from perfect, is the highest court in the land. It is the most senior authority in the country and has delivered thousands of decisions and some like Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey are what are known as landmark cases. Landmark cases are cases that impact society as a whole and of legal thought. The morals and laws that we abide by are partly due to the influence and making of the Supreme Court. We need to know of the court's impact on our lives in part due to its massive scale of influence in cases like Brnovich v Democratic National Committee and Burwell v Hobby Lobby. This immense overbearing on our lives can be good to a degree, but it can be a problem that collides with the fragility of politics. In recent years, the Senate has become more polarized than ever. Here's a picture of the current court: 

In the group photo to the right, 6 justices are conservative, from left to right: Alito (sitting), Kavanaugh (standing), Thomas (sitting), Roberts (sitting), Gorsuch (standing), and Barrett (standing). The 3 liberal justices are from left to right Kagan (standing, Breyer (sitting), and Sotomayor (sitting). This majority will stay for the next 30 years presumably. Now we can disagree on politics, but the fact stands that this supermajority is unrecognizable in today's world, last seen during the latter years of the Roosevelt administration, in the 1940s. The Senate has had slimmer and slimmer confirmation votes in the past few years. Barrett was confirmed 52-48 and Kavanaugh was confirmed 50-48. But this wasn't always the case. 

Take David Souter

Souter was anointed by President George H.W. Bush. Bush, who had already placed ultra-conservative Clarence Thomas on the Court (who is still there today), nominated him and thought he would be another really conservative justice. Souter was confirmed by the Senate 90 Yea votes to 9 No votes in 1990. He ultimately would not be a conservative but a middle-of-the-road-guy, who ultimately by the last few years of his term was a staunch part of the liberal wing of the Court who retired in 2009 to let Barack Obama appoint liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor. Souter sided with Planned Parenthood and against the death penalty. It is fascinating to look at the justices like Souter who are confirmed with bipartisan support compared to those like Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas who were confirmed by a margin of 2 votes. 

Finally, what to do. The problem extends a lot more than the acidic polarization of the justices and the Senate, it also is worth mentioning that, unlike the president and congresspeople, the Supreme Court Justices are there for life. They have lifetime appointments until they resign or die. Impeachment can happen, but it has occurred only once in United States history, (Samuel Chase was impeached in 1805 for political bias). The power that the Court is unprecedented and can be daunting to look at sometimes. The solution can be quite simple, and I understand that some might differ with me on this but getting rid of lifetime appointments should be on the table. If the president and congress don't have permanent stature, why on earth should judges be the same way? One idea that has been floated around is electing judges instead of appointing them directly by the president. 

Look, something needs to be done. The Court isn't broken by any means, but if it wants to stay the fundamental center of law that it should be and needs to be, changes have to be made. The Supreme Court is a majestic and awe-inspiring place, and we need to keep it preserved to make sure it functions the proper way: to keep the promise to the American people of...

"equal justice under law" -the engraving above the Supreme Court building.