Supreme Court of the United States facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Established | 1789 |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′26.55″N 77°00′15.64″W / 38.8907083°N 77.0043444°W |
| Composition method | Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation |
| Authorized by | U.S. Constitution |
| Judge term length | Life tenure |
| Number of positions | 9, by statute |
| Website | Supreme Court of the United States |
| Chief Justice of the United States | |
| Currently | John Roberts |
| Since | September 29, 2005 |
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States of America. Because of this, the Court leads the Judicial Branch of the United States Federal Government. It is the only U.S. court established by the United States Constitution. Its decisions are supposed to be followed by all other courts in the United States. The Court meets in its own building in Washington, D.C. However, until 1935, the Supreme Court met in the United States Capitol.
The Supreme Court chooses which cases it will decide on. Many people ask the Supreme Court to decide their cases, but the court refuses most of them. For the Supreme Court to decide a case, the case must be about federal law or be about the laws of more than one state. Cases must first be decided by a federal District Court and a federal Court of Appeals or by a state supreme court. Even after that, the Supreme Court can choose not to decide a case for any reason. There are some cases that can start in the Supreme Court and that the Supreme Court must decide, but those are usually rare.
The justices serve for life unless they want to retire earlier or are impeached. If a justice retires, he or she can still be asked to serve as a judge on a federal Court of Appeals. New justices are nominated (picked) by the President of the United States, and then must be approved by the United States Senate.
History
The 1st United States Congress provided the detailed organization of a federal judiciary through the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Supreme Court, the country's highest judicial tribunal, was to sit in the nation's capital and would initially be composed of a chief justice and five associate justices. The act also divided the country into judicial districts, which were in turn organized into circuits. Justices were required to "ride circuit" and hold circuit court twice a year in their assigned judicial district.
Immediately after signing the act into law, President George Washington nominated the following people to serve on the court: John Jay for chief justice and John Rutledge, William Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, James Wilson, and John Blair Jr. as associate justices. All six were confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 1789; however, Harrison declined to serve, and Washington later nominated James Iredell in his place.
The Supreme Court held its inaugural session from February 2 through February 10, 1790, at the Royal Exchange in New York City, then the U.S. capital. A second session was held there in August 1790. The earliest sessions of the court were devoted to organizational proceedings, as the first cases did not reach it until 1791.
Facilities
The Supreme Court first met on February 1, 1790, at the Merchants' Exchange Building in New York City. When Philadelphia became the capital, the court met briefly in Independence Hall before settling in Old City Hall from 1791 until 1800. After the government moved to Washington, D.C., the court occupied various spaces in the Capitol building until 1935, when it moved into its own purpose-built home. The four-story building was designed by Cass Gilbert in a classical style sympathetic to the surrounding buildings of the Capitol and Library of Congress, and is clad in marble. The building includes the courtroom, justices' chambers, an extensive law library, various meeting spaces, and auxiliary services including a gymnasium. The Supreme Court building is within the ambit of the Architect of the Capitol, but maintains its own Supreme Court Police, separate from the Capitol Police.
Located across First Street from the United States Capitol at One First Street NE and Maryland Avenue, the building is open to the public from 9 am to 4:30 pm weekdays but closed on weekends and holidays. Visitors may not tour the actual courtroom unaccompanied. There is a cafeteria, a gift shop, exhibits, and a half-hour informational film. When the court is not in session, lectures about the courtroom are held hourly from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm and reservations are not necessary. When the court is in session the public may attend oral arguments, which are held twice each morning (and sometimes afternoons) on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays in two-week intervals from October through late April, with breaks during December and February. Visitors are seated on a first-come first-served basis. One estimate is there are about 250 seats available. The number of open seats varies from case to case; for important cases, some visitors arrive the day before and wait through the night. The court releases opinions beginning at 10 am on scheduled "non-argument days" (also called opinion days) listed on a calendar at the court's homepage. These sessions, which typically last 15 to 30-minute, are also open to the public. From mid-May until the end of June, at least one opinion day is scheduled each week. Supreme Court Police are available to answer questions.
Current justices
There are currently nine justices on the Supreme Court: Chief Justice John Roberts and eight associate justices. Among the current members of the court, Clarence Thomas is the longest-serving justice, with a tenure of 12,111 days (33 years, 57 days) as of December 19, 2024; the most recent justice to join the court is Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose tenure began on June 30, 2022, after being confirmed by the senate on April 7. Five of the nine justices were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote.
| Justice / birthdate and place |
Appointed by (party) | SCV | Age at | Start date / length of service |
Succeeded | ||
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| Start | Present | ||||||
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(Chief Justice) John Roberts January 27, 1955 Buffalo, New York |
G. W. Bush (R) |
78–22 | 50 | 69 | September 29, 2005 19 years, 81 days |
Rehnquist |
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Clarence Thomas June 23, 1948 Pin Point, Georgia |
G. H. W. Bush (R) |
52–48 | 43 | 76 | October 23, 1991 33 years, 57 days |
Marshall |
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Samuel Alito April 1, 1950 Trenton, New Jersey |
G. W. Bush (R) |
58–42 | 55 | 74 | January 31, 2006 18 years, 323 days |
O'Connor |
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Sonia Sotomayor June 25, 1954 New York City, New York |
Obama (D) |
68–31 | 55 | 70 | August 8, 2009 15 years, 133 days |
Souter |
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Elena Kagan April 28, 1960 New York City, New York |
Obama (D) |
63–37 | 50 | 64 | August 7, 2010 14 years, 134 days |
Stevens |
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Neil Gorsuch August 29, 1967 Denver, Colorado |
Trump (R) |
54–45 | 49 | 57 | April 10, 2017 7 years, 253 days |
Scalia |
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Brett Kavanaugh February 12, 1965 Washington, D.C. |
Trump (R) |
50–48 | 53 | 59 | October 6, 2018 6 years, 74 days |
Kennedy |
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Amy Coney Barrett January 28, 1972 New Orleans, Louisiana |
Trump (R) |
52–48 | 48 | 52 | October 27, 2020 4 years, 53 days |
Ginsburg |
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Ketanji Brown Jackson September 14, 1970 Washington, D.C. |
Biden (D) |
53–47 | 51 | 54 | June 30, 2022 2 years, 172 days |
Breyer |
This graphical timeline depicts the length of each current Supreme Court justice's tenure (not seniority, as the chief justice has seniority over all associate justices regardless of tenure) on the court:
Images for kids
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Supreme Court of the United States
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The interior of the United States Supreme Court
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The present U.S. Supreme Court building as viewed from across 1st Street NE
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Inscription on the wall of the Supreme Court Building from Marbury v. Madison, in which Chief Justice John Marshall outlined the concept of judicial review
See also
In Spanish: Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos para niños
