What is the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial court in the country. There are nine Justices that make up the supreme court. The Supreme Court has a special role within the United States system of government. Basically, The Constitution gives it the power to check, if necessary, the actions of the President and Congress.

The Supreme Court has the ability to tell the President that his actions are not allowed or accepted by the Constitution. It can also tell Congress that a law that they passed may be violating The Constitution and have that law revoked.

The Supreme Court does not hold all the power though. It is limited by the other two branches of Government to keep a balance of power. The Supreme Court is also known for a number of historical cases such as the one we discussed in class.

In a famous court case in 1803, Marbury v. Madison, he wrote the Court's opinion, which declared a law passed by Congress to be unconstitutional. Another case that was decided on by the supreme court was Dred Scott v Sandford.

The Supreme Court serves many important roles within our government but their most important is to make sure that laws, acts, and cases are passed constitutionally and humanely.