Supreme Court

Highest US judicial tribunal, composed since 1869 of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Appointments are made for life by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and justices can be removed only by impeachment. Supreme Court decisions set precedents that lower courts are expected to follow.

The US Supreme Court hears appeals from decisions of the US Court of Appeals and from the state supreme courts. It also adjudicates questions of constitutional propriety, conflicts between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, conflicts between states or individuals living in different states, and conflicts in which the US government is a party.

Important cases Marbury v. Madison (1803) affirmed the process of judicial review over Congressional acts. This was the first time a court nullified an act of Congress on the basis of constitutionality. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) strengthened the power of the federal government over the states by granting it broad ‘implied powers’ from the US Constitution. In the pre-Civil War Dred Scott Decision (1857), the court ruled that blacks were not US citizens and reaffirmed the constitutional right to own slaves. After the war, the Fourteenth Amendment changed this, enabling blacks to become citizens and guaranteeing equal protection to all people. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) reaffirmed the provision for ‘separate but equal’ facilities for blacks and whites, but Brown v. Board of Education (1954), did away with this longstanding doctrine, ruling that segregated educational facilities are intrinsically unequal and therefore violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) required states to provide free counsel to anyone accused of a felony who was too poor to hire their own. In Miranda v. Arizona (1966), the court ruled that police must inform suspects of their rights, such as the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. In Furman v. Georgia (1972) the court placed limits on state powers to impose the death penalty. In Roe v. Wade (1973), the court ruled that state laws prohibiting abortion during the first trimester are unconstitutional.

The US Supreme Court was created in 1787, under Article III of the US Constitution. The number of justices is set by Congress, and the number fluctuated from 6 to 10 before settling at 9 in 1869. The role of the court has varied throughout its history. In its early years, the court mostly handled cases concerning the division of power between the state and federal governments. From the mid-1900s, the court handled a growing number of cases concerning the civil rights and personal liberties of individuals.