Blog Post #3

     We all know about the U.S. Supreme Court. One of, if not, the most powerful branches of government that comprise the system of Government the United States runs on. But reading this article, I learned there was more to understand about the power of the Supreme Court, and how it came to be.

    One thing to learn about was the birth of the Supreme Court, on February 1st, 1790... or really, February 2nd. Due to transportation issues, the first meeting had to be pushed back, something I found somewhat amusing. But what was most interesting, was that despite it being the first recorded meeting, there were no cases to be held that day.

    Another interesting thing to note was that the number of justices fluxed from 5 to 10 up until 1869, where it was decided that there would be 9 justices total on the Supreme Court. This was to prevent a case from having a tie, since all members had to vote, and with an uneven number, one side would always have one more than the other.

    One interesting thing I found was that the first case properly voted upon was a case in 1791, a dispute between a farmer, and a family he owed debt to. You would think it would be something more politically involved, like state issues, but this was the first recorded case to be voted on.

In all, the video and article I watched about the Supreme Court made me realize, that while it is one of the most powerful branches, it had fairly humble, and simple, beginnings. And even to this day, not all cases are grand decisions. But that doesn't lessen or deter me from knowing it is a key part of our governement.