What is the Supreme Court?

About the lecture

In this module, we think about what the Supreme Court is, when it was set up, and how it works, focusing in particular on: (i) its status as one of the three branches of the federal government, alongside the executive (the Presidency) and the legislature (Congress); (ii) its position at the top of both the federal and state court system; (iii) its establishment by Article 3 of the US Constitution; (iv) the ‘fleshing out’ of the court system in the 1789 Judiciary Act; (v) the court’s process of judicial review, and some of the controversies surrounding this process; (vi) the three main criteria that must be met before the Supreme Court can consider a case; and (vi) the reason why the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution (as opposed to ordinary law) is especially important.

About the lecturer

Dr Emma Long is Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the University of East Anglia. Her research interests focus on the history of the US Constitution and the Supreme Court. Although interested in all aspects of this history, her particular focus is on the period since 1945 and on the rights contained in the Bill of Rights. Emma also has an interest in the interaction of religion and politics in American history, particularly issues related to the idea of the “separation of church and state” that emerge from the First Amendment.