Judicial Changes Throughout History

When the United States of America was first formed, the founders wanted to stray away from any potential similarities from England as possible. Therefore, they created the three branches of government – the executive, legislative, and last but not least, the judicial branches. Citizens wondered what the “Judicial” branch would do – what was their role? Did this branch truly have as much power as the other two branches?

The prestige of the judicial branch began to evolve once John Marshall was appointed as the Chief Justice in 1801. While he was the Chief Justice, one of the most famous court cases occurred called Marbury v. Madison. This court case changed the judicial branch overall as this showed the American citizens that it is the job of the court to determine what is constitution versus what is not constitutional.

Then, as years went on and slavery continued to break apart the country, the government decided to enforce a new law once the Civil War was over. The 14^th Amendment addressed the fact that everyone had equal protection of the law and it gave those that were discriminated against the right to be a citizen of the country. This moment in history was revolutionary. In a time where the country was divided and many people believed that slaves were not citizens and should never be citizens, this amendment added to the Constitution was groundbreaking.

Another key moment in judicial history was the new concept of “certiorari.” What does this mean? It gave the Supreme Court the power to review cases and determine which cases they should focus on. Thus, adding more prestige.

As history continued in the development of the United States of America, the overarching idea of “we the people” continued to change and the power of the Supreme Court evolved.

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo&feature=youtu.be ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8qSuWxcG8&feature=youtu.be ; https://theweek.com/articles/799875/evolution-supreme-court