Discussion The American Legal System and the Courts PDF

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Your discussion post must draw on Keeping the Republic (Chapter 10), a current event, and your own experiences. More specifically, you must write a short paragraph (400-500 words) on a current political event citing appropriate and reputable sources (such as major newspapers [New York Times, Wall S...

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Discussion: The American Legal System and the Courts Chapter 10 talks about the role that the law plays in democratic societies; discusses the role of Congress and the Constitution in establishing the judiciary and explains how federalism plays out in the dual court system. Barbour and Wright also mention role of the Supreme Court in the legal system. The founders indented for the Supreme Court to be apolitical, not affiliated with any party or ideology. This is extremely important for functioning democracy, as Supreme Court rulings will have greater force and legitimacy. Indeed, American people believe that the Supreme court is above the politics, which isn’t true in modern day America. Yes, members of the court are elected for lifetime, so they don't have to worry about reelection or appoinmnet, however, how members are chosen, how they make desicions, and the effects of their decisions are all politically motivated Barbour and Wright). To prove that Barbour and Wright are correct about the politicising of the appointment process we can review an example of recent Supreme Court nomination. After justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, the seat in the Court was vacant. President Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett for the position, which caused a lot of controversy in the American politics. Her political views were described to be conservative, making her 5th conservative judge in the Supreme Court Greenhouse). The opening for the Supreme Court is a rare occurrence, but it had alreasy happened twice during Trump's presidency and for the third time right at the end of the Trump's Presidency, which allowed him to "promote" conservative agenda long after his term, making the Supreme Court 63 conservative to liberal. Rushed nomination in October 2020 caused a lot of controversy and newlyelected

President Biden is creating a commission on the future of the Supreme Court following the row over his predecessor’s rushed appointment of Amy Coney Barrett that brought calls from Democrats to expand it to redress its conservative majority. The commission will have up to 15 members and will include conservatives as well as liberals, Politico reporte Charter). Mr Trump’s three conservative appointments to the court during his presidency, includingMs Coney Barretteight days before the election, were one of his proudest achievements. Given their relatively young age, it will also be one of his most enduring. Personally, I think that politisizing the Supreme Court is not a good tendency, it was not meant to be affiliated with any party or ideology. However, since Presidents are the ones who nominate judges, they will tend to nominate poeple who are leaning towards their own views.

Work Cited

Barbour, Christine, and Gerald C. Wright. Keeping the Republic - the Essentials: Power and Citizenship in American Politics. CQ Press, 2020.

Greenhouse, Linda. “Opinion | What Does Amy Coney Barrett Mean for the Supreme Court?”The New York Times, 2021, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/opinion/sunday/supreme-court-amy-coneybarrett.html?searchResultPosition=15. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021.

Greenhouse, Linda. “Opinion | the Supreme Court Upheld Trump’s Muslim Ban. Let’s Not Forget That.”The New York Times, 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/opinion/supreme-court-muslim-ban.html? searchResultPosition=2. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021.

Charter, David. “Joe Biden Sets up Commission to Investigate Supreme Court Reform.”Thetimes.co.uk, The Times, 28 Jan. 2021, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/joe-biden-sets-up-commission-to-investigatesupreme-court-reform-b5gj3kl2t. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021....