Blog Post #2 Supreme Court Reflection

Supreme Court is the most powerful on earth.

Before watching this documentary, I knew the Supreme Court was important, but I did not realize how much responsibility rests with just nine people.

One of the first things I learned is that every case begins with a written petition. Thousands of petitions arrive each year, and the justices carefully consider which cases deserve their attention.

What surprised me most was the sheer volume of work. The Court receives about 7,000 cases annually but accepts only a small fraction of them from lower courts.

I was also interested to learn that every petition receives individual consideration. That process reflects the Court's commitment to fairness, even when most cases are ultimately declined.

The documentary showed how much influence the Supreme Court has in American government. It interprets the Constitution and can tell the President, Congress, and even the states what they can and cannot do.

I learned that the Court did not always hold its respected position. In 1801, when the federal government moved to Washington, the justices were given unfinished rooms. Under Chief Justice John Marshall and the landmark case Marbury v. Madison, the Court gained respect from the other branches of government.

The video did not avoid discussing mistakes. The Dred Scott decision was described as the Court's great self-inflicted wound, a reminder that even powerful institutions can make damaging errors.

Another thing that changed my perspective was seeing the human side of the Court. The justices shake hands before taking the bench, and the documentary emphasized that they are people with feelings, not just legal figures.

I also found the decision-making process fascinating. Oral arguments are held in public, but the nine justices vote privately and must explain the legal reasoning behind their decisions. Those decisions can shape the law for years. My biggest takeaway is that the Court's role goes far beyond deciding cases. It serves as a guardian of the Constitution, and its authority depends on the trust it earns from the American people.

Top 5 News Sources

 

My first piece of news sources comes from Instagram. I feel like Instagram is a good place to find news on everything especially in today's world of social media. One thing I really like about Instagram is that it has an algorithm that create basically a feed tailor specifically to your interests and likes, while I think the downfall of getting information like that is it creates a lot of biased media. I mostly use Instagram to consume sports as someone who is a sports fan I think it does a really good job of filtering out unwanted information as well.

My second piece of media in which I consume my news from is ESPN, as someone who really follows sports and is a very avid and active sports fan, I use ESPN a lot to consume news that's happening in the sports world and I like the fact it covers even obscure sports to although I do feel it has a bit of bias when writing about certain teams or markets. 

My third source of news is usually from the New York Times website usually I'll navigate here to find things happening within like politics and sometimes sports. I use this mostly when doing my own research on finding out about things that happen in the world but also, I enjoy how it covers government at a state level which I feel like state governments aren't covered enough locally by newspapers and such so being able to see them also report on state and local government is really fascinating. I also like how they won't cover like one demographic they offer many different types of media available like I mentioned politics, but they also cover sports and business which I think really creates a diverse network of readers. 

My fourth piece of news information I get is from Fox I have usually always gotten news from Fox even when I was a kid the go to channel would be Fox News. I usually only consume them through the TV and every once in a while, I'll read an article by them. I mainly use this source of news as a way to kind of keep up to date with the political world and reading about like current events happening regarding the United States or any controversies in the U.S whether it's political or not. I like how they can be quick with their stories and updates my only dislike is they can be biased with reporting and spread misinformation to a large viewership base. 

Finally, the last place I consume news from is NewsMax I really like them as a news source because they seem to be given the most accurate news and they are really quick at pushing it out, I remember during the presidential election they were one of the first news sources to publish trump winning the election even before many other news places had called the race. My favorite thing about this particular source is that they try to be unbiased in their reporting, and I think that's important in today's world because a lot of media outlets want to push a certain agenda or be biased in their reporting and it can create for a very divisive population.