By Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh ——Bio and Archives--December 19, 2019
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Before this building was dedicated, the Supreme Court met in locales outside of Washington, D.C., i.e., the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City, Philadelphia in 1790, and finally moved to Washington in 1800 where it met in the newly built U.S. Capitol Building. Thanks to President William Howard Taft, himself a Chief Justice, this permanent home for the Supreme Court was completed in 1935.
According to the guide, in this life-time government job, the chief justice is remunerated $260,000 annually, and the associate justices $250,000 each.
In Marbury v. Madison, judicial review was established, making the Supreme Court the final arbiter and say of what Congress and what the President do. If it’s not consistent with the Constitution, it is supposed to be illegal. However, the interpretation of the Affordable Care Act requirement to buy health insurance as a tax was decided and influenced for political reasons.
During argument, the lawyers on each side have 30 minutes each to present their cases. For each lawyer, the first two minutes are uninterrupted time. The next 28 minutes are constantly interrupted by various justices who ask questions. The fine art of winning is a lawyer who answers questions in such a way that his answers may sway the decision of the individual justices. Justices do have their own histories and political biases, have read the underlying briefs, and have probably already decided how they would vote in the case.
The opinions of the court are given out during the term of the court, October through September. Once a majority decision has been reached, the chief justice decides who writes the opinion of the court.
The actual courtroom is average in size, with seats for the press on the right of the bench, black chairs for the court families and friends on the left, seats for the lawyers in the middle, and seats for the audience in the back. The clerk of the court sits under the flag. A female marshal times the proceedings and, when the 30 minutes are up, a red light turns on. The case is thus submitted but nobody knows whether they’ve won or lost.
The Supremes meet once a week and talk about the cases they’ve heard that week. Once five justices agree on how the case will be decided, then a written opinion is issued. A dissenting opinion can also be issued and a concurring opinion, meaning, it agrees with the ruling but for a different reason.
During oral argument justices ask questions, letting the world know in what direction they lean on a case. Two lawyers for each side can argue but usually one speaks. During court session arguments are heard on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 10-12.
Behind metal gates on both sides, corridors are lined with chairs where clerks can sit and listen during arguments.
The audience red velvet seats are occupied on a first come, first served basis, but the lines to get in are formed days and hours in advance. There are actual companies which, for a fee, will send line sitters for you.
The press is not allowed any recording devices or photography. The court sketch artist sits behind them.
Per tradition, no video is allowed during proceedings on the bench, per decision of the justices, but there is an audio and a video transcript of the proceedings posted on the website. The recording device is located on the left side of the Chief Justice and the human timekeeper sits on the same end.
The guide informed us that the court hears only about 60 cases (less than one percent) per term out of more than 7,000-8,000 petition cases that are brought for consideration to be heard by the court.
The Chief Justice of SCOTUS sits in the middle chair (John Roberts), on his immediate right sit justices in order of seniority. The Associate Justice with the most time on the court is Clarence Thomas. On his left sits Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second one with seniority on the court.
As I left the marble mausoleum-like building, I wondered how many millions of Americans across many generations have been affected by the good and bad decisions made by nine fallible, biased, and all-powerful humans in black robes, decisions that can never be reversed?
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Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Ileana Writes is a freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism”, “Liberty on Life Support” and “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” “Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later” are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.