U.S. Supreme Court Building Photo Credit: Victoria Chamberlain / TripSavvy
Anita Winger
Automations System Manager
Mississippi State University and MLIS Student University Southern Mississippi [email protected] |
With the recent changes in the Supreme Court, many Americans could use an overview of the Supreme Court and how it works. This guide will introduce you to materials that can assist in answering the following questions: When was the Supreme Court established? What is the scope of the Supreme Court? How do they work and how do they decide which cases to hear? Who makes up the Supreme Court? How are the judges appointed? How long do they serve?
Most of this information will be geared towards adults and the high school student, but materials for younger children will also be included if you wish to introduce them to the workings of the Supreme Court.
Most of this information will be geared towards adults and the high school student, but materials for younger children will also be included if you wish to introduce them to the workings of the Supreme Court.
Electronic Reference Resources
The Handy American Government Answer Book states that the Supreme Court was brought into being through the Judiciary Act of September 1789 and was organized on February 2, 1790. (Misiroglu, 2018). Misiroglu goes on to describe the early foundations of the court and how their role is defined by the constitution. The article on the Supreme Court has a lot of information that will give one a good foundation on the workings of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court at work. (2018). In G. Misiroglu, The handy American government answer book: how Washington, politics, and elections work. Visible Ink Press.
The U.S. Supreme Court Justices resource is an electronic copy from the Facts On File article in the Credo Reference database. This resource is a compilation of all the Supreme Court Justices since the Court was established in 1789. The list is nicely laid out with the name of the judge, which state they were from, the U.S. President who nominated them, their confirmation date, and when they took the oath of office. To top off this chart, each of the judge's names is hyperlinked to a short biography with access to additional resources.
U.S. Supreme Court Justices. (2015). In T. L. Hall, American political biographies: Supreme Court Justices: a biographical dictionary (2nd ed.). Facts On File.
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions gives an overview of how the opinions of the Court are formed. Unlike the legislature, the court determines if a previous ruling of a lower court was correctly applied or if it needs to be overturned. This does not happen right away as each justice must reach their own ruling and, once discussed among themselves, a vote is then taken and a collective opinion is written based on the collective opinions of the court.
Han, L. C. (2017). U.S. Supreme Court opinions. In M. A. H. Genovese, & Lori Cox, Encyclopedia of American government and civics (2nd ed.). Facts On File.
Print Reference Sources
Written for the high school student, The Supreme Court A to Z is a volume that outlines the nation’s highest court in an easy to understand manner. With over 350 entries that range from rulings to definitions as well as biographical information, traditions, and many other insights. This resource is arranged alphabetically and cross-referenced for easy searching. This volume is a great go-to resource that should be able to answer your questions on the U.S. Supreme Court in one place.
Jost, K. (2007). The Supreme Court A to Z (4th ed.). CQ Press.
From facts to rulings, and trivia concepts, the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States is written for the general public. This second edition contains entries for cases that have been heard, biographies of successful and unsuccessful nominees, and many other topics dealing with constitutional law. The reference resource portrays the court as a cultural institution and not “just” a court. If you are interested in knowing how the decisions have affected society in the United States, this will be the resource to use.
Hall, K., Ely, J., & Grossman, J. (2005). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Databases
HeinOnline Academic is a legal resource where one can find more than 292,000 titles in 60 databases in one place. The topics can be browsed by category or database name. One of the sections that will be of greatest interest is a link to a guide titled the U.S. Supreme Court Library. The front page of this library highlights some of the landmark cases back to 1803. The library has links to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports and many other resources such as books on the court as well as links to external web sites on the court.
Academic Search Premier is a general database that has information on many topics. Performing a search on the U.S. Supreme court will return articles on reactions to Rulings that have been handed down and other articles on the court in general. This database will allow one to research most aspects of the Supreme Court. This would also be a good source to research and compare how our Supreme Court compares with the Courts of other countries.
Biographical Resources
Adult Literature
Reading biographies about the members of the U.S. Supreme Court can clarify why they were chosen to serve such an important role in the nation’s highest court. It would be an insurmountable task to produce a list of resources available, so the best way to see what is available at your library, is to perform a search for "U.S. Supreme Court Biography”. The results of that search contain biographies on some of the following members: Thurgood Marshall, John Marshall, Samuel Alito, David J Brewer, Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, and Wiley Rutledge. One title that has a good history and biographical outline of the justices is The Supreme Court of the United States: its beginning and its justices, 1790-1991.
The Supreme Court of the United States : its beginnings & its justices, 1790-1991. (1992). Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
Juvenile Literature
When one thinks about the U.S. Supreme Court and trying to explain it to their child, it can be difficult to bring such an important aspect of our government to their level. Fortunately, this has already been done for us. One series that has been written is called First Facts. Our Government. This series covers more than the U.S. Supreme Court and would be a great way to introduce your child to how the government works. One title in this series on the Supreme Court is The State Judicial Branch.
Firestone, M. (2004). The State judicial branch. Capstone Press.
For biographies on the justices that have served over the years, the best way to find a resource for your child is to perform a search in the online catalog for "U.S. Supreme Court biography juvenile literature". The link will perform a search in the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) catalog. Some of the biographies that are available on the Court Justices are as follows: Sonia Sotomayor, Thurgood Marshall, Robert H. Jackson, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O’Connor, John Marshall, Earl Warren, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Online Resources - Journal Articles
Wilkinson (2006), in a speech before the Supreme Court Historical Society, describes the tendency to oversimplify the workings of the Supreme Court. Looking back to the various courts and the Chief Justices, history has tended to oversimplify the decisions that have been made and how the justices have voted by thinking they all towed the "party line", when that has not been true. These oversimplifications have gone all the way back to the court rulings in 1833.
Wilkinson, J. H. (2006). Oversimplifying the Supreme Court. Journal of Supreme Court History, 31(1), 81–90. https://doi-org.lynx.lib.usm.edu/10.1111/j.1540-5818.2006.00122.x
Rice (2016) has researched and analyzed the Court's opinions between 1979 and 2009 to see how the dissenting opinions were carefully worded to make a strong statement. The strategic manner in which the dissenting opinions were drafted was done to address additional topics that hoped to alter the effect of the opinion addressed by the majority. Rice goes on to provide evidence that the drive behind the behavior of the dissenting opinion is to realign the Court.
Rice, D. R. (2017). Issue divisions and US Supreme Court decision making. Journal of Politics, 79(1), 210–222. https://doi-org.lynx.lib.usm.edu/10.1086/687540
US Supreme Court Agenda Setting and the Role of Litigant Status is an article where the authors have reviewed and analyzed the status of the litigants based on their political and economic status to see if there was any bias in the rulings handed down. The analysis takes place at the agenda-setting stage of the process and determines that any influence the status of the litigant may have had at the beginning stage was mitigated when it came to making the ruling of the court.
Black, R., & Boyd, C. (2012). US Supreme Court agenda setting and the role of litigant status. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 28(2), 286-312. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41499496
In the article, Supremely Conservative, Blum (2019) analyzes the rulings of the U. S. Supreme Court for the 2018-2019 session. It was noted in this article that the current court is of the conservative mindset, but Chief Justice Roberts is also an activist. While most justices tend to rule along party lines, that is not always the case and the court has overturned some of its own rulings. One thing we must remember is that the court is there to interpret the law, not make it.
Blum, B. (2019). Supremely conservative. Progressive, 83(4), 31–36.
Web Pages
The official website of the Supreme Court of the United States houses a wealth of information on the workings of the court. This information covers: how to file documents, both paper and electronic, the rules when visiting the Court, and a place to search case documents and the written opinions of the Court. The current court schedule is on the front page with a list of the cases they will be hearing and when they will be listening to the arguments.
The Supreme Court Historical Society was founded in 1974 and strives to preserve the history of the Supreme Court. The Society was founded by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger who served as the honorary chairman of the Society. The Society holds events such as Galas and the Leon Silverman Lecture Series. There is a variety of information on the Courts’ history, how it works, the role of the Chief Justice, and how the judges are selected.
Founded in 2002, the SCOTUSblog “is devoted to covering the U.S. Supreme Court comprehensively, without bias and according to the highest journalistic and legal ethical standards. The blog is provided as a public service” (About, 2016 SCOTUSblog.com). Merit cases are covered at three stages: before arguments, after arguments, and after decisions. The posts themselves go beyond the cases and cover other aspects of the court.
Bibliography
Academic Search Premier: EBSCO. (n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/academic-search-premier
Black, R., & Boyd, C. (2012). US Supreme Court agenda setting and the role of litigant status. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 28(2), 286-312. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41499496
Blum, B. (2019). Supremely conservative. Progressive, 83(4), 31–36.
Firestone, M. (2004). The State judicial branch. Capstone Press.
Hall, K., Ely, J., & Grossman, J. (2005). The Oxford companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Han, L. C. (2017). U.S. Supreme Court opinions. In M. A. H. Genovese, & Lori Cox, Encyclopedia of American government and civics (2nd ed.). Facts On File. Credo Reference: http://lynx.lib.usm.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofgac/u_s_supreme_court_opinions/0?institutionId=3440
Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://library.udel.edu/databases/heinonline/
Jost, K. (2007). The Supreme Court A to Z (4th ed.). CQ Press.
Rice, D. R. (2017). Issue Divisions and US Supreme Court decision making. Journal of Politics, 79(1), 210–222. https://doi-org.lynx.lib.usm.edu/10.1086/687540
SCOTUSBlog. (n.d.). The Supreme Court of the United States blog. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.scotusblog.com/
Supreme Court Historical Society. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://www.supremecourthistory.org/
Supreme Court of the United States Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.supremecourt.gov/
The Supreme Court at work. (2018). In G. Misiroglu, The handy American government answer book: how Washington, politics, and elections work. Visible Ink Press. Credo Reference: http://lynx.lib.usm.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/vipgab/the_supreme_court_at_work/0?institutionId=3440
The Supreme Court of the United States : its beginnings & its justices, 1790-1991. (1992). Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Supreme Court justices. (2015). In T. L. Hall, American political biographies: Supreme Court justices: a biographical dictionary (2nd ed.). Facts On File. Credo Reference: http://lynx.lib.usm.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofsupreme/u_s_supreme_court_justices/0?institutionId=3440
Wilkinson, J. H. (2006). Oversimplifying the Supreme Court. Journal of Supreme Court History, 31(1), 81–90. https://doi-org.lynx.lib.usm.edu/10.1111/j.1540-5818.2006.00122.x
Black, R., & Boyd, C. (2012). US Supreme Court agenda setting and the role of litigant status. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 28(2), 286-312. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41499496
Blum, B. (2019). Supremely conservative. Progressive, 83(4), 31–36.
Firestone, M. (2004). The State judicial branch. Capstone Press.
Hall, K., Ely, J., & Grossman, J. (2005). The Oxford companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Han, L. C. (2017). U.S. Supreme Court opinions. In M. A. H. Genovese, & Lori Cox, Encyclopedia of American government and civics (2nd ed.). Facts On File. Credo Reference: http://lynx.lib.usm.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofgac/u_s_supreme_court_opinions/0?institutionId=3440
Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://library.udel.edu/databases/heinonline/
Jost, K. (2007). The Supreme Court A to Z (4th ed.). CQ Press.
Rice, D. R. (2017). Issue Divisions and US Supreme Court decision making. Journal of Politics, 79(1), 210–222. https://doi-org.lynx.lib.usm.edu/10.1086/687540
SCOTUSBlog. (n.d.). The Supreme Court of the United States blog. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.scotusblog.com/
Supreme Court Historical Society. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://www.supremecourthistory.org/
Supreme Court of the United States Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.supremecourt.gov/
The Supreme Court at work. (2018). In G. Misiroglu, The handy American government answer book: how Washington, politics, and elections work. Visible Ink Press. Credo Reference: http://lynx.lib.usm.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/vipgab/the_supreme_court_at_work/0?institutionId=3440
The Supreme Court of the United States : its beginnings & its justices, 1790-1991. (1992). Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Supreme Court justices. (2015). In T. L. Hall, American political biographies: Supreme Court justices: a biographical dictionary (2nd ed.). Facts On File. Credo Reference: http://lynx.lib.usm.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofsupreme/u_s_supreme_court_justices/0?institutionId=3440
Wilkinson, J. H. (2006). Oversimplifying the Supreme Court. Journal of Supreme Court History, 31(1), 81–90. https://doi-org.lynx.lib.usm.edu/10.1111/j.1540-5818.2006.00122.x
With the recent passing of Associate Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the focus was on the Supreme Court and who would be the new judge. This guide focus' on the Supreme Court and how it functions. The goal is to also provide information applicable to younger audiences who are living in this historic time of two justices being appointed in recent years. How does one become a member of the supreme court and what obstacles or prejudices did the member need to overcome in their personal lives? Biographies are one way to see how these individual judges have worked hard and overcome hardships to be where they are today. It takes hard work and dedication to become a judge in the U.S. Supreme Court.