What was the main effect of the Supreme Court?

How the Courts Are Shaping Health Care as We Know It

Katie Keith is director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at Georgetown University Law Center. Her analysis focuses on ways litigation shapes health policy and the r...

The Supreme Court, as well as being the final court of appeal, plays an important role in the development of United Kingdom law.

As an appeal court, The Supreme Court cannot consider a case unless a relevant order has been made in a lower court.

The Supreme Court:

• is the final court of appeal for all United Kingdom civil cases, and criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• hears appeals on arguable points of law of general public importance
• concentrates on cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance
• maintains and develops the role of the highest court in the United Kingdom as a leader in the common law world

The Supreme Court hears appeals from the following courts in each jurisdiction:

England and Wales

• The Court of Appeal, Civil Division
• The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
• (in some limited cases) the High Court

Scotland

Click here to download a factual guide to The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in Scottish Appeals: Human rights and the Scotland Act 2012 (PDF).

Northern Ireland

• The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland
• (in some limited cases) the High Court

Please click here to download a full guide to appealing to The Supreme Court (PDF) or our Guide to proceedings for those without a legal representative.

Learn more about The Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of the United States (or SCOTUS) is the highest federal court in the country and the head of the judicial branch of government. Established by the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court has the ultimate jurisdiction over all laws within the United States and is responsible for evaluating the constitutionality of those laws. If necessary, the court, which is currently made up of nine justices, has the power to check the actions of the other two branches of government—the executive branch of the president and the legislative branch of Congress.

Early Days of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was established in 1789 by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution, which also granted Congress the power to create inferior federal courts.

The Constitution permitted Congress to decide the organization of the Supreme Court, and the legislative branch first exercised this power with the Judiciary Act of 1789. The act, signed into law by President George Washington, specified that the court would be made up of six justices who would serve on the court until they died or retired.

The Supreme Court was set to first assemble on February 1, 1790 at the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City. But due to some justices’ transportation issues, the meeting had to be postponed until the next day.

Though the court had its first meeting on February 2, 1790, it didn’t actually hear any cases in its first term. The court’s early meetings were concentrated on working out organizational procedures.

The six justices handed down their first decision on August 3, 1791—just one day after the court heard arguments for the case—with West v. Barnes, an unremarkable case involving a financial dispute between a farmer and a family he owed debt to.

For more than 100 years after the foundation of the Supreme Court, the justices were required to hold circuit court twice a year in each judicial circuit—a grueling duty (given the primitive travel methods at the time) that Congress formally abolished in 1891.

Supreme Court Justices

The Supreme Court’s justices are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed (or denied) by the U.S. Senate.

The first Supreme Court was made of up Chief Justice John Jay and Associate Justices John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison and James Wilson (Harrison declined to serve and was replaced by James Iredell).

The highest judicial officer in the nation, the chief justice is responsible for presiding over the Supreme Court and setting the agenda for the justices’ weekly meetings. In cases where the chief justice is a member of the majority opinion, the justice has the authority to assign who will write the court’s opinion. The chief justice is required to sit on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

The chief justice also presides over trials of impeachment against the President of the United States in the U.S. Senate, as was the case with President Andrew Johnson, President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump (all three presidents were acquitted).

Current Supreme Court Justices

Though the first court comprised of six justices, Congress altered the number of Supreme Court seats — from a low of five to a high of 10 — six times over the years. In 1869, Congress set the number of seats to nine, where it has remained until today.

As of June 2022, 115 Justices have served on the Supreme Court.

The current Supreme Court is comprised of chief justice John Roberts, Jr. and associate justices Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch.

READ MORE: Why Do 9 Justices Serve on the US Supreme Court?

Notable Supreme Court Justices

Many of the Supreme Court justices were distinct for one reason or another.

Chief justice John Marshall, for instance, is widely regarded as one of the influential chief justices, in part for having defined the relationship between the judiciary and the rest of government. In Marbury v. Madison (1803), he established the Supreme Court’s power to review and rule on the constitutionality of federal laws enacted by Congress. Marshall was the fourth chief justice and served in the position for more than 34 years, the longest term of any chief justice.

In the 1930s, chief justice Charles Evans Hughes presided over the court as it transitioned from being the protector of property rights to the protector of civil liberties. Notably, he wrote landmark opinions on the freedom of speech and press.

And chief justice Earl Warren, in the 1950s and 1960s, issued numerous landmark decisions, including ones that banned school segregation (Brown v. Board of Education), put in place Miranda rights or the “right to remain silent” warning given by police (Miranda v. Arizona), and abolished interracial marriage prohibitions (Loving v. Virginia).

The Supreme Court has seen numerous other notable justices, including William Howard Taft, the only person to serve as both President and chief justice; Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice; Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice; and Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice.

READ MORE: Steps the Supreme Court Takes to Reach a Decision

Supreme Court Cases

In its more than 200-year history, SCOTUS has held a wealth of important cases, which have had lasting impacts on the nation, for better or worse.

For example, before Warren’s pro-civil rights decisions, the court denied citizenship to African American slaves in 1857 (Dred Scott v. Sandford), upheld state segregation laws in 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson), and upheld World War II internment camps for Japanese Americans in 1944 (Korematsu v. United States).

Of course, the courts weighed in on more than just civil rights issues.

In 1962’s Engel v. Vitale, SCOTUS ruled that prayer initiated by and within public schools violates the First Amendment (in the 2000 case Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, it further ruled that students cannot lead prayer using the school’s loudspeaker system). And in 1963, it found that defendants who cannot afford legal representation must be provided it without charge (Gideon v. Wainwright).

Others important cases include:

• Mapp v. Ohio (1961), which held that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in criminal cases.
• Texas v. Johnson (1989), which found that flag burning and other potentially offensive speech is protected by the First Amendment.
• Roe v. Wade (1973), which ruled that women have a right to an abortion during the first two trimesters (overturned in June 2022).
• U.S. v. Nixon (1974), which found that the President cannot use his or her power to withhold evidence in criminal trials.
• Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which struck down state anti-sodomy laws.
• United States v. Windsor (2013), which revoked the U.S. government’s ability to deny federal benefits to same-sex couples.
• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which legalized same-sex marriage across all 50 states.

Sources:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Supreme Court of the United States.
The Court as an Institution: Supreme Court of the United States.
About the Supreme Court: United States Courts.
Branches of Government: USA.Gov.
The 21 most famous Supreme Court decisions: USA TODAY.
Supreme Court Landmarks: United States Courts.

The US Constitution establishes the Supreme Court. In 1789, Congress passed the Judiciary Act, and the court officially met for the first time in 1790. The Supreme Court consists of the chief justice of the United States and “such number of Associate Justices as may be fixed by Congress.” There have been nine associate justices since the mid-1800s. The president of the United States nominates justices, and appointments are confirmed with the advice and consent of the US Senate. 

What do Supreme Court justices do?

Supreme Court justices hear oral arguments and make decisions on cases granted certiorari. They are usually cases in controversy from lower appeals courts. The court receives between 7,000 and 8,000 petitions each term and hears oral arguments in about 80 cases. 

In addition to deciding these cases, each justice is responsible for emergency applications and other matters from one or more of the 13 federal circuits. Therefore, justices are sometimes asked to halt the implementation of a circuit court order, set a bond for a defendant, or stop the deportation of an alien. Justices also act on applications for requested stays of execution. 

How long is a Supreme Court term?

By law, the Supreme Court term begins on the first Monday in October and remains in session until late June or early July. A term is traditionally divided between sittings and intervening recesses. A sitting is when justices hear cases and deliver opinions. An intervening recess is when they consider the business before the court and craft their decisions, called opinions. These alternate every two weeks.  

How long do people argue before the Supreme Court?

Typically, each party receives 30 minutes of argument time to persuade the justices their interpretation of the law is correct. Almost all the cases that the justices hear are reviews of the decisions made by other courts—there are no juries or witnesses. The justices consider the records they are given, including lower court decisions for every step of a case, evidence, and the argument presented before them in making their final decision. 

I’ve heard something about a shadow docket. What’s that?

During any given term, the court hears cases argued before it and makes decisions. The shadow docket refers quite literally to decisions made in the dark, referring to emergency orders and summary decisions outside the court’s main docket of argued cases. In 2015, a University of Chicago law professor gave the shadow docket its name, but it has been around for decades. 

What do Supreme Court law clerks do? How are they different from the clerk of the Supreme Court?

While the justice makes the ultimate decision, the justice’s law clerk helps lay the foundation for the decision. Law clerks are responsible for researching case law, preparing the justice to hear the oral argument, and potentially writing large swaths of a majority or dissenting opinion. So, while it’s the justice’s decision, the law clerk helps the justice get to that opinion.

The clerk of the Supreme Court is the officer of the court responsible for overseeing the filings made with the court and maintaining its records. This person has held office by congressional authorization since 1789 and is subject to removal by order of the Supreme Court.