The Judicial Branch: Celebrating the Semiquincentennial, Part V

We’re continuing our monthly series celebrating the nation’s 250^th birthday. Here are the previous parts:

·        Part I: The Declaration of Independence

·        Part II: The Preamble of the Constitution

·        Part III: Lawmaking

·        Part IV: The Executive Branch

In our Part V today, we’re getting to Article III of the Constitution, which covers the judicial branch of the federal government. That is, the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

The Supreme Court is somewhat seasonal. It is typical for the session to choose, in late summer and fall, what cases it will hear for the year—and the year is numbered by when the process starts, so we’re currently still in the 2025 session. They will hear oral arguments for those cases throughout the winter and spring. And they make their rulings by the end of June. That’s a general rule. In reality, they can take up an urgent case and rule on it quickly at any time. And they aren’t required to wait until June to rule on any case; they can rule when they have a decision ready. And sometimes they hold a ruling until July or so. It just typically piles up until June, with rulings coming out in multiples the last couple of weeks. It feels a bit like a sports tournament, with results coming down to the wire and everyone paying close attention.

Article III, Sections 1-3

Let’s do our due diligence and make sure we understand the actual wording of this relatively short article of the Constitution.

To read the full article, follow LINK TO SUBSTACK.