Supreme court Facts for Kids

A supreme court is usually the most important and highest court in a country. Think of it as the final stop for legal cases. This means that if you have a legal problem, and it goes through different courts, the supreme court is often the last place where a decision can be made. It has the power to change decisions made by lower courts.

However, not every country calls its highest court a "Supreme Court." For example, in Australia, the highest court is called the High Court of Australia. Also, sometimes a court named "Supreme Court" isn't actually the highest one. This can be confusing! For instance, the New York Supreme Court in the United States is not the highest court in New York; there are higher courts above it.

What are Constitutional Courts?
How Supreme Courts Deal with Politics
Images for kids
See also

What are Constitutional Courts?

Some countries have a special high court called a "constitutional court." This court focuses only on issues related to the country's constitution. A constitution is like a rulebook for how a country is governed. These special courts make sure that new laws follow the rules in the constitution.

Other countries, like the United States, do not have a separate constitutional court. Instead, their supreme court handles constitutional issues along with other types of cases. The Supreme Court of the United States is famous for being the first court to decide if a law was against the constitution. This happened in a very old case called Marbury v. Madison in 1803. This case also made the US Supreme Court an equal part of the government, alongside the President (executive branch) and Congress (legislative branch).

Even if a court isn't officially called a "constitutional court," it might still do a lot of "constitutional review." This means it checks if laws and government actions follow the constitution. So, it acts like a constitutional court even without the name.

How Supreme Courts Deal with Politics

Many supreme courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, sometimes get involved in political issues. This happens in countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Israel, India, and Kuwait. When courts make decisions about political matters, it can sometimes lead to big discussions and disagreements.

One famous example in the United States was the Bush v. Gore case in 2000. The Supreme Court had to make a decision that helped settle the 2000 presidential election. This decision was very controversial, meaning many people had strong opinions about it.

In other places, like the European Court of Justice, there have been debates when the court reviews decisions made by governments of different countries. Also, some people have criticized the president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Aharon Barak, saying that the court had too much influence over the government. This shows how important and sometimes challenging the role of a supreme court can be in a country's life.