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The Supreme Court is the highest legal authority in the United States. It is made up of the brightest legal minds in the United States, and candidates are nominated by the President and confirmed in a Senate vote. The Supreme Court derives all of it's judgements from their interpretation of the Constitution, but the 9 Justices on the Court have different interpretations of the Constitution. Only 4 Justices must vote to see a case for review, and grant what is called a //writ of certiorari.// Then only a simple 5-4 majority is needed to decide to either change the previous ruling on the case or decide that no constitutional violation took place.

One of the landmark cases for the Supreme Court is //Marbury v. Madison.// It determined that while the Supreme Court did not have the authority to enforce it's own rulings, it did have the power to declare laws passed by Congress unconstitutional and void the effects of the law. The decision in //Marbury v. Madison// created the power of Judicial Review, which although not explicitly stated in the Consitution gave the Supreme Court the power to keep Congress from overstepping it's bounds. This decision was made by the Marshall Court that was made up of (From left to right) John Marshall, William Cushing, William Paterson Samuel Chase, Bushrod Washington, and Alfred Moore. You can learn more about landmark cases throughout history on this website []

Today the Supreme Court is made up of 9 Justices as shown in the picture below. From left to right their names are Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Antonin Scalia, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas. More biographical information about the justices is available at this website []

Although in recent news it was announced that Justice John Paul Stevens, the longest serving member of the current court, would be retiring soon. President Obama has announced his nominee to replace him to be the Solicitor General for the United States Elena Kagan (The picture on the right). Although it is uncertain how Elena Kagan will affect the Supreme Court, she will be taking the place of the strongest liberal voice on the Supreme Court. More information on Elena Kagan's nomination is available at this website: []



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