The Supreme Court is an intimidating name. When I think of the Supreme Court, my mind jumps straight to all of the critical court cases that I have learned about through my many years in school. For some reason, I picture mean, sweaty Justices looking down on poor civilians who are just trying to be treated fairly. I truly don't know why this grotesque image comes into my mind.
The short video I watched in preparation for writing this blog post showcased Supreme Court Justices being interviewed. It showed me another side of the Supreme Court that I've never seen.
I have officially come to the conclusion that Supreme Court Justices are misunderstood. Or at least, I certainly misunderstood them.
For instance, it was mentioned in the video that when the Court doesn't take a case, public reporting confuses it as the court upholding the decision. This is a perfect example of a misunderstanding because deciding not to take a case has "no precedential value" as Justice O'Connor says, and it does not equate to the Court agreeing with the lower court's ruling.
My favorite quote from the video was said by Justice Breyer when the interviewer suggested a distance between the Court and the larger public (aka the distance I initially felt before watching this video). He said "the inside story of the court is there is no inside story."
..."it's people simply thinking."
I have never thought about the Supreme Court in this way, and it really did open my eyes to the painfully obvious yet forgotten fact that the people of the Supreme Court are just that... people!
I am silly for not seeing that initially, but I am grateful to have gained a new perspective on the now less-intimidating Supreme Court.
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