The Founding Era

    Something that I never knew and that stood out to me from the documentary is that sometimes the opinions of the Supreme Court Justices can change. Since the Justices are very well-educated in the field of Politics and American history, it is interesting to hear how a certain case can change an opinion or belief a Supreme Court Justice has. Even at times, the justices will switch sides and the majority becomes the minority. It makes me want to learn more about the Supreme Court and about the cases that stood out to the Justices to make them change their viewpoints. 

   A big takeaway point about the Supreme Court which I found really interesting is when a Supreme Court Justice mentioned how compromise is inevitable. This statement resonated with me because not only will the Justices have to compromise with one another when making a decision about a certain case, but no matter what, you will have to compromise with others in many different situations in your life. It helps to show that other people can bring up great points and collaborating with others can lead to better outcomes than just working alone.     

   The most surprising thing I learned in the second part of the documentary about the Supreme Court is that when they release a decision on a case they have been working on for months, the information can be spread onto the news within minutes. I have always been aware that news can travel fast, but I was impressed at the speed that something so significant such as a Supreme Court decision would be released to the public. It also interested me to learn that the court normally waits to release their decisions and the release of their opinions is announced at the end of their term, which is in late June. While I am aware that the Supreme Court holds a lot of power and can take a long time to formulate an answer, this shows that the individuals on the other side of a case may be waiting for almost a year to be given back a statement regarding their situation. 

   I always knew the job of being a Supreme Court Justice was difficult (especially considering how hard it is to obtain), but the videos really put into perspective for me how challenging the job can be. These videos have shown me that you need to have a large amount of patience as a Supreme Court Justice because if they decide to work with a certain case, it can take them months to even complete a statement. Also at times these statements can be up to 80 pages long and go through many different processes of revision from different staff members all the way to the Justices themselves. The videos gave me a lot more respect for the Justices as it showed how dedicated each Justice has to be towards their career and they all take it so seriously.