123 School Work

US SUPREME COURT

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  INTRODUCTION
  
  v     Inside the court
  v     Present Chief Justices/Notable Past Justice
  v     Choosing Cases
  v     Oral Arguments
  v     Making Decisions
  v     Historic Cases
  v     Most Recent Case/Controversy
  v     Conclusion
  v     Bibliography and Work Cited
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Inside the Court
  
  As the Supreme Court's 2003-2004 term gets underway, the nine justices exercise a profound influence on American life. With their decisions on court cases on issues ranging from affirmative action to gay rights to the death penalty, they define the law and shape the country's institutions.
  The Supreme Court's efforts to establish the law of the land begin in privacy and isolation. The court's term officially begins on the first Monday in October, but is on Fridays when the nine justices meet in a small, wood-paneled conference room to decide which cases they deem worth hearing.
       For people who believe that lower courts have failed them, the Supreme Court is an arbiter of the Constitution. Its rulings will affect not only the two challenge parties, known as petitioner and respondent, but also may change life for all Americans for generations.
  About 7,000 petitions arrive by mail or messenger each term at "the Marble Palace," as historian John Frank called the court's building on First Street NE, just east of the Capitol. "Many of the court's ultimate decisions are predictable, but there are always a number of surprises," said Maureen Mahoney, who was a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in the 1979-80 term and now represents private clients before the court. The public normally notices only the final decision in a case...