Supreme Court Justice

You’ve heard of American food (apple pie) and American music (anything by Elvis Presley or Bruce Springsteen). But what about numbers? If there were a uniquely American number, it could easily be the number nine: Not only are there nine fielding positions in baseball, but there are also nine Judges on the U.S. Supreme Court. As a Supreme Court Justice, you’re one of them, appointed for a lifetime term to the nation’s highest court by the President of the United States.

Like other Judges, Supreme Court Justices preside over civil and criminal court cases with the goal of upholding, enforcing, and interpreting the law. Uniquely, however, your job as a Supreme Court Justice is defending the grandest law in the land: the U.S. Constitution. You accomplish that by choosing, hearing, and deciding cases.

Step one, “choosing,” requires reviewing approximately 7,000 cases that are submitted to the court on appeal; of those, you’ll choose approximately 100 to hear during the court’s annual term. Step two, “hearing,” requires reading briefs submitted by the parties in a case and listening to Attorneys ’ oral arguments. Finally, step three, “deciding,” requires voting on a case and subsequently writing the court’s “opinion,” which explains the reasoning behind its decision; typically, both majority and minority opinions are published, expressing the views of Justices who voted on both sides of the issue.

Whether you’re deciding the fate of gun control, gay marriage, freedom of speech, or any of countless other contentious political issues, you’re the head of the legislative branch of government, which means you’ve inherited from the Founding Fathers — along with Congress and the President — the privilege and power of deciding what “America” means.