The U.S. Court System

In Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton said, "In governments that separate the branches, the judiciary is always the least dangerous to constitutional political rights because it has the least power to injure them. [T}he judiciary has no such control or influence and can take no resolute action."

However, unlike the other two branches we have studied so far, the federal judicial branch is fundamentally undemocratic. The federal justices are not elected, and consequently they are isolated from the public pressures felt by other elected officials. That does not mean that politics has no effect on court decisions—far from it. Today's Supreme Court is more conservative than its 1969 counterpart. In Tinker v Des Moines (1969), the Court said that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gates, but in Morse v. Frederick (2007), Chief Justice Roberts said that the First Amendment did not require schools to permit students to encourage illegal drug use. Far from being a remote institution, the Supreme Court reached into every public school in America with this decision.

This unit will introduce students to the Judicial Branch. They will learn the structure of the courts and what powers the courts exercise. Students will also study the process a Supreme Court Justice must go through before receiving his or her appointment.

Recently we have seen an increase in Supreme Court News since the Election of Donald Trump. Enjoy these videos and news clips.