Teaching About
the United States Supreme Court
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Improvement which is part of the Department of Education.
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The Supreme Court is one of the most important
institutions in the United States. Thus, social studies teachers should
emphasize the significance of the Court in our nation's history. This ERIC
Digest highlights the origin and foundations of the Supreme Court,
discusses the changing role of the Supreme Court in the United States, and
recommends World Wide Web resources helpful in teaching and learning about
the Supreme Court.
CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY FOUNDATIONS OF THE SUPREME
COURT.
The majority of the men who met in Philadelphia during the summer of
1787 agreed on the need to create a more powerful central government.
Concurrently, however, many of the delegates feared the abusive power a
new national government could wield. During the ratification struggle,
James Madison, in "Federalist 51," emphasized the necessity of providing
for "auxiliary precautions" to limit governmental power. The judicial
branch was designed in part to exercise such precautions on the
legislative and executive branches. At the same time, the framers placed
checks on the judiciary in order to ensure that no single branch would
dominate the others.
The judiciary was the least discussed branch of government at the
Constitutional Convention, and Alexander Hamilton in "Federalist 78" later
referred to the Supreme Court as the "least dangerous" branch of the
proposed national government because it possessed neither the power of
"the purse" (legislative power) nor that of "the sword" (executive power).
The debates surrounding the Court's creation reveal a broad consensus that
the federal judiciary shall have jurisdiction in all cases pertaining to
the Constitution, federal statutes, and treaties. The delegates provided
for the Supreme Court to have original jurisdiction only in cases
involving "Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in
which a State shall be Party." In all other cases under its authority, the
Court was granted "appellate jurisdiction" (Article III, Section 2, Clause
2 of the Constitution). In addition, the convention delegates agreed that
Congress would be empowered to establish inferior courts (Casto 1995, 14).
The Philadelphia delegates granted the President power to make judicial
appointments and required the Senate's approval for such appointments.
Supreme Court justices were to be appointed for lifetime tenure "during
good behavior" to create an independent judiciary that would act to
preserve a limited government and the rule of law.
After ratification of the Constitution and subsequent implementation of
the new government, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 to establish
and organize the federal judiciary. This federal statute established two
lower levels of federal courts: 13 federal district courts at the lowest
level and three circuit courts at the next level to hear appeals from the
district courts. The Supreme Court was affirmed as the highest court of
appeals in the federal system. The Judiciary Act of 1789 also provided in
its Section 25 that the federal judiciary would have the power of judicial
review over actions of state governments. Thus, acts of state governments
could be nullified if they violated the United States Constitution or
federal laws and treaties that conformed to it.
THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE SUPREME COURT IN THE UNITED
STATES.
The U. S. Supreme Court met for its first session in February 1790.
During the first decade of the Court's existence, the justices had a light
caseload (Casto 1995, 54-55). Under John Marshall, who became Chief
Justice in 1801, the Court enhanced its authority and increased the power
of the federal government at the expense of the states. The most famous
case during Marshall's tenure as Chief Justice, "Marbury v. Madison"
(1803), provided an opportunity for the Court to exercise judicial review
about actions or laws of the federal government. Judicial review, or the
power of the federal courts to determine whether acts of state governments
or the national government are constitutional, was first directed at the
state level in "Ware v. Hylton" (1796); the Supreme Court declared a
Virginia statute void because it violated the 1783 treaty with Great
Britain. In 1803, the Marshall Court for the first time declared a federal
law unconstitutional.
The scenario for "Marbury v. Madison" (1803) began during the final
days of President John Adams's administration, when he made several
"midnight appointments" to the federal judiciary to ensure that the
Federalist party agenda would not be totally overturned by the newly
elected President, Thomas Jefferson, and his Democratic-Republican party,
which held a majority of seats in the Congress. Adams appointed William
Marbury, among others, to serve as a justice of the peace in Washington,
DC. Some of Adams's last-minute judicial appointments, including that of
Marbury, were never delivered. When Thomas Jefferson assumed the
presidency in March 1801, he ordered his Secretary of State, James
Madison, to ignore the commissions. Marbury subsequently took his case
directly to the Supreme Court and asked it to issue a writ of mandamus to
Madison. The writ of mandamus would order the Secretary of State to carry
out his duties by delivering Marbury's commission to him. Section 13 of
the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the Court power to issue a writ of mandamus
in cases under its original jurisdiction.
Chief Justice John Marshall considered three questions in this case.
Did Marbury have a right to the commission? Did the law provide him a
means to obtain the commission? Could the Supreme Court, through its
original jurisdiction in Marbury's case, issue a writ of mandamus?
The Court ruled that Marbury was due his commission. The Chief Justice
stated that a writ of mandamus, which the Supreme Court was authorized to
issue by Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, was the proper legal
procedure to follow in this case. Marshall pointed out, however, that
according to Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, the
Court could not have original jurisdiction in the "Marbury" case. So the
Chief Justice concluded that Section 13 of the Judiciary Act violated the
Constitution and therefore was unconstitutional.
Marbury did not receive his commission because the federal statute by
which he brought his case to the Supreme Court was nullified. Thus, a
precedent was established whereby the Court would have the power of
judicial review over acts of the legislative and executive branches of the
federal government.
After the "Marbury v. Madison" decision, the Supreme Court did not
declare another act of Congress void until 1857, when in "Scott v.
Sandford" it decided the Missouri Compromise of 1820 to be
unconstitutional. During the twentieth century, however, the Court
extensively and emphatically used its power of judicial review through
interpretation of the Constitution's 14th Amendment in concert with
particular parts of the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) to protect rights
of individuals against tyranny by the federal and state governments.
In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in his classic commentary
"Democracy in America" that the Supreme Court's power to declare
particular actions of legislative or executive officials unconstitutional
was a powerful "barrier against the tyranny of political assemblies." And
so it has been from his time to our own era. However, the Court's power to
secure justice would be meaningless without public understanding and
support of its constitutional responsibilities and purposes. The Court's
"power is enormous," said Tocqueville, "but it is the power of public
opinion. [The justices] would be impotent against popular neglect or
contempt of the law."
To maintain the important balance of power among the three branches of
government and enable the Supreme Court to play its proper role in a
constitutional government, responsible citizens must be vigilant about the
enforcement of laws that protect their rights. Citizens must be cognizant
of what their rights are, how the Court has acted to protect them, and why
they must be engaged politically and civically to support the Constitution
and its just enforcement.
WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT THE SUPREME
COURT.
The following Web sites are recommended to teachers and students. Those
sites are sources of information about landmark decisions of the U.S.
Supreme Court, which should be emphasized in the school curriculum.
 Cornell Legal Information
Institute:
Cornell's site contains all of the U. S. Supreme Court opinions since
May 1990 and 600 opinions on major cases throughout the Court's history.
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct>
Federal Judicial Center:
This site provides general information about the federal judiciary
including the history of federal courts and a biographical database of
federal judges since 1789. http://www.fjc.gov
History of the Federal
Judiciary:
This site presents information about the history of the federal courts,
the judges who have served since 1789, and landmark judicial legislation
from the Judiciary Act of 1789 to the present. http://air.fjc.gov/history/index_frm.html
Oyez, Oyez, Oyez:
This Supreme Court database from Northwestern University provides
access to U. S. Supreme Court cases with texts of opinions and recordings
of oral arguments in recent cases. It also contains biographical data on
all Supreme Court justices and links to their opinions. http://oyez.nwu.edu
Supreme Court of the United
States:
This official site of the Court includes information about the history,
structure, functions, and rules of the federal judiciary, opinions on all
cases that have gone before the Court, oral arguments, the Court's docket,
and a guide to visiting the U.S. Supreme Court building. http://www.supremecourtus.gov/index.html
REFERENCES AND ERIC RESOURCES.
The following list of resources includes references used to prepare
this Digest. The items followed by an ED number are available in
microfiche and/or paper copies from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service
(EDRS). For information about prices, contact EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road,
Suite 110, Springfield, Virginia 22153-2852; telephone numbers are (703)
440-1400 and (800) 443-3742. Entries followed by an EJ number, annotated
monthly in CURRENT INDEX TO JOURNAL IN EDUCATION (CIJE), are not available
through EDRS. However, they can be located in the journal section of most
larger libraries by using the bibliographic information provided,
requested through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from commercial reprint
services.
Casto, William R. THE SUPREME COURT IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC: THE CHIEF
JUSTICESHIPS OF JOHN JAY AND OLIVER ELLSWORTH. Columbia, SC: University of
South Carolina Press, 1995.
Hess, Diana. "'California v. Greenwood' Moot Court Simulation." UPDATE
ON LAW-RELATED EDUCATION 13 (Fall 1989): 21-23. EJ 401 473.
Long, Gerald P. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF JUVENILES AND STUDENTS:
LESSONS ON SIXTEEN SUPREME COURT CASES. Bloomington, IN: ERIC
Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 1994. ED 374
070.
Marcus, Maeva, ed. ORIGINS OF THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY: ESSAYS ON THE
JUDICIARY ACT OF 1789. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Pacelle, Richard L., Jr. "Simulating Supreme Court Decision Making."
POLITICAL SCIENCE TEACHER 2 (Spring 1989): 8-10. EJ 392 908.
Patrick, John J. THE YOUNG OXFORD COMPANION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE
UNITED STATES. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ED 368 670.
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Sarah E. Drake is a doctoral student in the School of Education and a
project assistant at the Social Studies Development Center of Indiana
University. Thomas S. Vontz is an assistant professor of education at
Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO.
-----
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Title: Teaching about the United States Supreme Court. ERIC Digest.
Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis
Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in
Full Text (073);
Available From: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social
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Descriptors: Constitutional Law, Court Role, Elementary Secondary
Education, Law Related Education, Political Science, Social Studies,
United States History
Identifiers: ERIC Digests, Supreme Court, United States
Constitution
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