The Supreme Court (SC)

"Equal Justice Under Law'' are the words, which are carved in marble, high overhead, on the front of one of the most significant buildings in Washington, D.C. The four-story marble building, in the style of an ancient Greek temple, is the one in which the SC of the United States does its work.

The SC consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices, and the responsibility and power of these nine people are extraordinary. SC decisions can affect the lives of all Americans and can change society significantly. This has happened many times in the course of American history. In the past, SC rulings have halted actions by American presidents, have declared unconstitutional — and therefore void — laws passed by the Congress, have freed people from prisons and have given new protection to black Americans and other minorities.

The SC is the court of final appeal and it rules in cases in which someone claims that a lower court ruling is unjust or there has been a violation of the United States Constitution.

There are many federal courts in the system which has the SC as its head. In addition each state within the US has established a system of courts, including a state supreme court, to deal with civil, criminal and appellate proceedings. There are also county and city courts. Even many of the smallest villages, those in which only a few hundred people live, have a local judge, called a "justice of the peace", who handles minor legal matters. There are other specialized courts to handle matters ranging from tax questions to immigration violations.

The potential for conflict within the society is still great, and it is no surprise that there are more than 542,000 lawyers in the US and hundreds of thousands of court workers.

Many cases that come before the SC involve charges that the police or a judge has violated the rights of a person accused of a crime. It doesn't matter whether the person actually committed the crime or not; the SC does not rule on the guilt or innocence of those accused, but only on whether or not laws and legal procedures conform to the Constitution.

The Court rules on whether the individual's right to due process — the proper and correct handling of a legal case — has been violated. If it has, the person must go free, possibly to stand trial again with due process guaranteed. Here is a case of this type.

In 1961 a Florida man named Clarence Gideon was arrested by police as he stood near a small store into which someone has broken earlier and stolen some beer. Gideon was arrested because another man said he saw the theft take place. Gideon was not represented by a lawyer in court. He claimed he was innocent, and tried to act as his own lawyer. The witness succeeded in convincing the jury that Gideon was guilty, and Gideon went to prison.

Gideon decided that he must fight this injustice. He read law books in the prison library and then wrote to the SC, saying he had been denied the right to be represented by a lawyer. The Court ruled that Gideon was correct. It said that people who are accused must have lawyers to defend them, even if they cannot afford to pay such lawyers. In that case, the state must pay the lawyer's fee. Gideon got a new trial, was represented by a lawyer and was found innocent. Legal representation is now provided by the state to all accused persons who cannot afford to pay for it.

Hundreds of cases that come before the SC are concerned with freedom of religion, press and speech. A well-known SC case involved a woman named Madelyn Murray, who believed that freedom of religion also meant the freedom not to have a religion. Mrs. Murray felt it was wrong that in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, public schoolchildren were required to read from the Christian Bible. The SC agreed with Mrs. Murray. It ruled that the First Amend­ment to the Constitution requires the state to be neutral in its relations with believers and nonbelievers. Thus, any religious exercises in public schools are unconstitutional.

Not everyone whose case goes before the SC is a winner. Losers have included prisoners who claimed they were treated unjustly because they were locked up four to a cell built for one. The SC did not think this "overcrowding" was "cruel and unusual punishment", which the Constitution prohibits.

It should also be noted that not all Americans are satisfied with all SC decisions. Many Americans believe that the court too often "takes the side of the criminals" in declaring proceedings invalid because an accused person's rights have been violated. Others argue, however, that protecting the innocent is the real intent of these rulings, and that it is better to have a few criminals go free than to have one innocent person be jailed.

Not all cases are settled in the SC. Only a small percentage win the attention of the chief justice and the associate justices. Many cases sent to the SC are studied by the justices and then sent back to the court or the person from which they came. That means that, as a lower court has ruled on the case, the ruling remains in effect.

(From "The Law and the Judiciary")

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20