Maya Berger

Maya Berger
8/19/19
AP Gov Summer Assignment
Gordon

For as long as this country has been established the Supreme Court has been the basis of every major decision made. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States, made up of nine judges. These nine people are arguably the most powerful people in the country. The court consists of a chief justice and 8 associates that debate and decide upon the most important and controversial issues in history. Some of these cases such as Marbury v. Madison 5 US 137 (1803), Tinker v. DMICSD 393 US 503 (1969), and Citizens United v. FEC 558 US (2010), have shaped the way the country functions.

In 1801, there were 16 new judgeship's that Adam’s filled with Federalists. Marbury was among the last appointments and did not get his commission before Jefferson became president. The congress ignored this and decided that Marbury could not be appointed because there were not official documents. Marbury decided to petition the Supreme court to a writ of mandamus. In the case of Marbury v. Madison the disposition was that court may disagree with an act of congress if it’s unconstitutional. It was the first time the court ever declared an act of Congress unconstitutional, which was a very liberal act at that time. The chief justice at the time, John Marshall, explicitly used the words of the constitution for his argument. He argued that the main point of the constitution is to set limits for the government. In this case, the congress had crossed the line, and it was the supreme court’s job to put Madison and his men back into their places. This case was where judicial review originated. Today, judicial review is a huge part of the supreme court. It’s extremely important for our government to keep up with the system of checks and balances to make sure one branch does not have too much power over the other. Today our congress is very conservative and have the power to make some very right wing leaning decisions. The system of judicial review makes the government more fair.

On December 16, 1965, Mary Beth Tinker and her friends showed up to school with black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. Later that day, they were asked to remove the band and were suspended. These students did not agree with the actions of the school board, so when they returned to school they wore black clothing for the rest of the year. They also came back with a lawsuit against the board. After the 4 year long trial, the court ruled that the suspension of these students was in violation of their first amendment- freedom of speech and expression. The case started in the lower court, but was ruled against Tinker because the armbands were “distracting” to the environment. The families of the children decided to appeal and push it to the supreme court. The court's ruling was 7-2, which was definitely more on the liberal side. With the help of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the court decided that the arm bands were not distracting and the suspension was a violation of the students first amendment rights. At this time students did not have much power in society. Nowadays, students and young adults are the leaders of many social and political movements around the country. Because of the case, Tinker v. DMICSD, students are able to express themselves freely in schools. During the Black Lives Matter movement, students were able to wear clothing that showed their support to the movement without being afraid of the consequences. 

In 2008, a conservative nonprofit company released, Hillary: The Movie, a documentary that highlighted many flaws in Hilary Clinton, who was running in the 2008 presidential elections. The company, Citizens United, wanted to distribute the film to as many people as possible during a 30 day period before the primary elections. The FEC argued with Section 203  (Section 203 of the BCRA prevents corporations or labor unions from funding such communication from their general treasuries.) (oyez.com). that it was morally not right and unconstitutional to publish the film. Citizens United argued that Section 203 was unconstitutional and violates the first amendment.  The district courts ruled against the case Citizens United v. FEC, so it moved on to the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 ruling, Citizens United's claims were validated by the conservative court. Chief Justice, John Roberts and the 4 others justices argued that the government should not be able to censor citizens and that corporations have their first amendment right to put out whatever content they please. During the 2016 elections and in the future 2020 elections, campaigns take advantage of their first amendment rights and publicize many advertisement that corrupt the election. Although freedom of speech and expression is extremely important, there are some lines that are very hard to draw to protect from corruption of government,