When reading over the overview of the Supreme Court created by the History Channel, there were many aspects I wasn't aware of; firstly that when the Judiciary Act of 1789, there were 6 justices originally put into place, and they would serve on the court until they were retired from the court or they passed away. Furthermore, another fact I didn't know was that the court's authority was weakened after Chief Justice Rogers Brooke Taney ruled that African Americans could not be considered U.S. citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the U.S. territories. Also, I wasn't aware that there have been about 100 Supreme Court Judges and Justices, and I found it interesting that around 7,000 cases a year are reviewed/argued by the Supreme Court. The most surprising thing I learned was that the youngest Supreme Court Justice in history was 32 years old; this surprised me because previously, I would have thought that they wouldn't have considered a person in their thirties for such an important decision.
The biggest takeaway from reading about the history of the Supreme Court was that Brown vs. Board of Education was perhaps the most important case in its history. I say this because if segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, then, segregation in all public places is unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court did not give a deadline by which schools had to integrate the law, which means many states chose not to desegregate their schools until the 1960s. My personal view of the Supreme Court hasn't changed per see, but after reading, I have a better understanding of why the Supreme Court is so important, and its purpose overall. Now when I think of the Supreme Court's duties, I think of interpreting the law and defending the constitution, and if they don't, they need to be held accountable.
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