Arete Magazine

A Renaissance in Classical Education

The Supreme Court

The role of the Supreme Court in American constitutional government — history, decisions, and the nature of judicial interpretation.

The Supreme Court

In Article III and in various other passages, the U.S. Constitution establishes the American judicial system, calling for a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice of the United States and an unspecified number of Associate Justices. In addition to Chief Justice John Roberts, there are currently eight Supreme Court Justices: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The U.S. Constitution also calls for the establishment of inferior courts, determined by the legislature. Through the Judicial Act of 1789 and later legislation, these inferior courts include the U.S. Appellate Courts and the U.S. District Courts. Federal judges, according to the Constitution, “hold their office during good behavior.” To gain the bench, they are nominated by the president and then confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution mandates that their pay cannot be diminished during their office, seeking to ensure that neither the legislative nor executive branch can threaten nonpayment to sway judicial decisions.

These courts hear “cases and controversies,” which arise when one person (or institution) sues another person (or institution). Federal courts hear cases concerning federal law, while state courts hear cases concerning state laws. While most cases in the country are heard by state, not federal, courts, the Supreme Court retains the appellate authority, through a writ of certiorari, to review cases decided at the federal or state level. Thus, the Supreme Court will occasionally overturn a state decision. 

By design, the Supreme Court justices and federal judiciary are not elected, thus removing some degree of popular influence from one of the three branches of government. Federal judges are expected to be leading experts in the law, and they must sometimes make decisions that run contrary to public opinion.

In this video, Dr. Thomas Varacalli, Dean of the Honors College, interviews John Bursch, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, on his career as a lawyer who has argued multiple times before the Supreme Court.