It truly is crazy how there is overlap between classes across semester and years of my education at High Point University. For my Legal Studies minor, I just happen to be taking COM 1450 [Media Law and Literacy] and BUA 3050 [Business Law] simultaneously. Just last week Professor Watson was educating us on the different types of courts in the United States. And here I am a week later reading and writing about the Supreme Court for COM 1450. Crazy right? Though I already had knowledge about the Supreme Court from BUA 3050, I chose to read more in-depth in the SCOTUS History article as a jumping off point for this blog reflection!
The United States’ court system is a very intriguing organization that I feel many Americans are not well educated on. I feel as though many Americans see the court system as a higher authority that is always against our wishes as the people. However, I view them as the exact opposite. The American court system is here to maximize our rights as citizens of the United States in the best way possible. Do we always agree with their decisions? Probably not. However, this group of esteemed individuals is always working to better our society within the parameters that have been set forth for us to follow.
After reading this article, one fact I did not know about the Supreme Court is that Congress has altered the number of seats for justices to sit on throughout history. I was always under the impression that nine justices were the magic number, and it has always been that way. However, there has been trial and error when it comes to figuring out the perfect number of individuals to sit on this esteemed board. The numbers have ranged from a low of five justices to a high of ten justices. Currently the number of justices is nine. Here is a list of the current Supreme Court justices and little information on each of them. I personally have done much research on Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Shockingly, I was assigned to do research on her not for a political science or business class, but instead a Spanish class. Yet another way that my educational journey has overlapped and paid off this semester!
Once I read this article and reflected on my notes from BUA 3050, I came to the conclusion that one aspect in particular about the Supreme Court stuck out to me. Because I interned at a law office this summer, I was familiar with the concept of circuit court rotations. However, I had no idea that circuit court rotations were previously held at the Supreme Court level as well. In reality, it makes sense that Supreme Court justices had the obligations to travel to different circuits in order to make fair judicial assessments across the nation. I thought that was something interesting that was a part of the Supreme Courts past, and I plan to research on why it ceased in today’s time!
A main conclusion that I have come to in writing this discussion post is that many Americans are not properly informed about the Supreme Court of the United States and much less informed about American politics in general. They tend to see the government as an overarching authority that is never for us, but always against us. I believe that the first step to better this relationship is increasing civic education and engagement in our society. This list of 76 ways to become more civically engaged I think is great resource to help many American citizens grow a new appreciation for the individuals that are consistently working to better our great nation.
Overall, the workings of the Supreme Court are very fascinating to me. Because I am planning to attend law school after graduating from High Point University, I am soaking in every opportunity that I have to learn about the field of study that I am looking to pursue!
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