So You Want to Be a Supreme Court Justice by Artika R. Tyner

Author:Artika R. Tyner [Tyner, Dr. Artika R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 978-1-5435-7197-4; 978-1-5435-7527-9; United States Government; President; Senate; House of Representatives; Speaker of the House; Election; Politics; Political Party; Republican Party; Democratic Party; Independent Party; Nomination; United States Constitution; Term; Campaign; Supreme Court Justice
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2019-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

On Fridays the justices meet privately to discuss the arguments they have heard in Court. Then they vote on each case. There are nine justices to ensure that a vote never ends in a tie. If at least five justices agree, that is the majority opinion.

A FAMOUS DISSENT

Dred Scott was an enslaved person who lived with his owner in a free territory for many years. He was married and had a child in free territory. When he tried to buy his family’s freedom, his owner refused. Scott sued, claiming that he had been free the minute he passed into a place that outlawed slavery.

On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled on Dred Scott v. Sandford. By a 7–2 decision, Chief Justice Roger Taney announced that black people in the United States could not sue because they were not citizens.

Justice Benjamin R. Curtis dissented. He believed that the Constitution was clear when it said, “All men are created equal.” Scott was a man and a citizen. Justice John McLean agreed. “Being born under our Constitution and laws, no naturalization is required . . . to make him a citizen,” he wrote.

The Dred Scott decision was overturned when the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed. The 13th ended slavery. The 14th defined citizenship and what protections citizens are given. The 15th gave citizens the right to vote, regardless of race, color, or previous enslavement.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.