Two of the most significant Supreme Court cases in recent years were handed down this past June. The first dealt with Arizona’s own controversial law, Senate Bill 1070, the second is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The court’s decision to uphold Obamacare as constitutional, for example, means that millions of Americans without healthcare will need to obtain some form of insurance.
This summer saw the most mainstream coverage of a Supreme Court decision in quite some time, but it was not enough.
The media has done a terrible disservice to the American electorate by virtually ignoring the judicial branch for months, even years, at a time. Presidents, senators and representatives may only be serving their constituencies for a few years, yet they receive the lion’s share of press coverage.
It is a truth generally acknowledged by political science scholars that the U.S. Supreme Court is a vitally important aspect of any president’s lasting legacy in American politics.
Supreme Court decisions affect millions of Americans, yet we hear very little about the day-to-day impact of the judicial branch even during a presidential election season.
Supreme Court justices serve for life, and the average tenure of a single justice lasts for 16 years.
Justice William Douglas, who was appointed to the court in 1939 by former President Franklin Roosevelt, served for nearly 37 years. His term spanned seven presidencies and 18 congressional terms. He sat on the court during World War II, as well as the wars in Korea and Vietnam.
The court as an institution — often described by critics as anti-democratic — can remain static, with no new members for years.
However, as the nine individuals that make up the body of the court are not elected, their faces are not easily recognizable to those who don't pay attention to their judicial politics. But with so few individuals spending so many years on the bench, I would think voters might remember a name or face.
Supreme Court decisions are often extremely dense pieces of legal writing, littered with oversized words and jargon, but they are perhaps the most important and lasting functions of the national government.
A typical lawsuit is not likely to make it to the Supreme Court’s chambers. The court receives thousands of petitions to hear cases per year, and yet only 100 or so will be decided.
That means that virtually every case the justices hear has been chosen for a particular reason. While not every case will have a far-reaching impact, many do.
And yet, according to a study conducted by Outside the Beltway, only 34 percent of Americans can name at least one member of the nine justices.
Only 1 percent can name all nine.
Reach the columnist at skthoma4@asu.edu or follow her at @SavannahKThomas
