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The Supreme Court of the United States is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Their positions are life-long appointments. They read statutes and the text of the Constitution, and they also considered other policy cases. But they decide cases based on what the law is, not what the polls show. The Supreme Court is housed in a small room deep inside the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
The Supreme Court of the United States servers two functions.
It is first a court of law; as such it is the highest court in the land, with a final authority over the federal or the state courts. It becomes guides for every judge and lawyer in the nation.
It is also a political institution in the sense that it exerts a commanding influence on public policies of the United States. The high court is the top of the judicial system of the United States government.
The Supreme Court is primarily a court of appeals. Cases generally reach the Court either from the lower federal courts or from the state supreme courts. When a litigant who loses in a lower court wishes to take the case to the Supreme Court, he may send a request for a hearing, whether by appeal or certiorari (a writ that commands judges of inferior courts to return records or certify proceedings for review by a higher court), to the office of the chief justice, who circulates it among the eight associate justices. All nine take part in the decision whether to hear the case. If four justices are in favour of taking a case, it is placed on the docket.
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