Because this assignment is similar to one I did last semester for our "Talking About Freedom", I have a a decent amount of knowledge of the Supreme Court. However last semester I believe I watched the two videos, so for this assignment I will read the article by the History Channel. It will be interesting to se how the article differs in information from the videos.
When talking about the Supreme Court, usually we talk about more modern day cases and those from the civil rights era. However not much is said about the early days of the Supreme Court. more specifically how it was organized to how we know today. One of the things that I didn't know about the Supreme Court was the fact that they had their first official meeting on February 2nd 1790. The meeting was initially scheduled for February 1st but was postponed until a day later due to traveling issues. This is one of those pieces of information that serve as a fun fact. What I don't understand however is that for the next 100 years or so the Supreme Court justices had to hold a circuit court twice a year. This was eventually abolished due to traveling issues. The part that I don't understand is if they were having traveling issues constantly over a 100 year period, why wasn't this rule improved to accommodate the issue? This is also one of the surprising things that I learned while reading the article.
One of the key takeaways that I read was about how members of the Supreme Court are elected. The President has the power to nominate an individual for the position but its the Senate who takes the vote. However there is also a key point of information that I believe is missing. Although the President can nominate an individual, he can also appoint an individual under certain circumstance's. Article 2 section 2 clause 3 of the constitution says that the following.
"The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."
This can mean while the senate is in recess the President has the power to appoint a new Justice for a short while. This is called a Recess Appointment .
As stated previously, I already knew a lot of information about the Supreme Court from last semesters class. This would mean that my thoughts on the Supreme Court haven't really changed all that much. However, with the new information that I have learned about Recess Appointments, I would say that has changed my thinking a bit. Not only can the President appoint a justice while the senate is on recess but the person he appoints doesn't need to have any prior knowledge in law. Seems a bit weird in my opinion but I guess thats just how it is.
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