About the Supreme Court of the United States

The U.S. Constitution only establishes one court – the Supreme Court. This is the ‘court of last resort’, the highest court in the country. Often referred to as simply the Supreme Court, or sometimes by the acronym SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States).

What do you know of this court? How was this court created? What jurisdiction does this court have? How are judges selected? Read this article to find some answers to these questions!

Article III Courts

The Constitution expressly gives the Congress power to establish “inferior courts”, i.e. courts below the Supreme Court.  District Courts are trial courts – sometimes called courts of first instance. Circuit Courts are appellate courts (courts of second instance). Additionally, there are other specialty courts.

Courts established pursuant to the Constitution are called “Article III” courts and its judges are “Article III” judges – because it is Article III of the Constitution that establishes the judiciary. 

These judges have certain protections from partisan pressure, such as lifetime appointments. As Article III states, judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour”. Once formally appointed, a judge is appointed for life and can only be removed for bad behavior by the impeachment process.

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

Article III of the Constitution clearly sets out the jurisdiction of the court. It hears appeals from lower federal courts as well as state supreme courts. 

Most of the cases it hears are discretionary – the court can choose to accept or reject a case. When a party wants to appeal to the Supreme Court, they file a Petition for Certiorari. The court will grant or deny this.  If granted, the court will issue a Writ of Certiorari and order the parties to submit briefs.

Normally oral arguments are scheduled after the briefs’ are submitted. Frequently, amicus curiae briefs are also submitted to the court by third parties; these are “friends-of-the-court” who, although not  a party to the case, want to make arguments to the court to help with its decision. Often these are by academics (law professors) or NGO’s that are arguing for a certain public policy.

Each year, there are 7000-8000 Petitions for Certiorari filed with the court. The court will hear only about 80 of these cases.

Appointment of Justices

Judges appointed to the Supreme Court are called justices. The Court has one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices.

Originally, the Court had six justices but this has changed over time; it has had nine justices since 1869.

The president nominates judges for the District and Circuit Courts, as well as justices for the Supreme Court. The Senate will approve or reject the nomination by taking a vote. Before the full senate votes, the Judiciary Committee of the senate will hold hearings. The committee will question the nominee as well as others.

Starting in the 1980’s. the hearings for supreme court nominees became very contentious and often are very newsworthy. Some of the more contentious hearings were for Judge Robert Bork, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

When the justices meet to discuss cases, they meet alone in this conference room. The junior Associate Justice (the most recently appointed) is responsible to answer the door.

Current Justices on the Court

The Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (note: this includes the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and does not include Justice Barrett who was appointed in late 2020).

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