I have somewhat of a background on the Supreme Court from taking a politics class earlier in college. We went over the basics like judicial review, important cases, and the setup of how Judiciaries are chosen. I feel that there are important things to take away from this video. One of those takeaways is that this video shows what a textbook can not show. The justices are discussing with one of the experts documenting the Supreme Court for a majority of the video. They explain how the court appears differently when viewed, from how they actually operate. The most surprising thing I learned is how they try to make points aware to each other during the process of oral argument between the lawyers. The justices stated that the lawyers are more of a mediator. They make sure to ask the lawyers specific questions throughout the hearing, in order to spread awareness of points of the case that they find vital. Those who come to watch the court hearing are under the misconception that the hearings are just made up of justices making dialogue with the lawyers. In reality, it is just a professional way to bring the attention necessary to issues in the case to their fellow justices. Myself included, I had no idea this was how they operated. As stated by Justice Kennedy, people are always questioning if the oral argument in the courtroom makes a difference. I thought to myself for a moment, why don't the justices just review the facts of the case on their own, and come together to make a decision? They are the highest order of justice. It was then that he said Abstract principles have to be applied in a real-life situation, and that the lawyer's purpose is to do exactly that. The most important takeaway of the video is exactly that. These nine justices dedicate themselves to reserving the highest order of justice in this country, yet they like anyone else do not have the ability to just look at something and decide if it is correct or incorrect. They need to have an argument said to them, to remind them of the realism of the case so that they can abstain from making a compromised decision. It is important to realize that lawyers represent the voice of the people, bringing the facts and opinions of the general population to the most prominent figures of justice within our government.
