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The Supreme Court One Nation Under Law Watch the video link below – read the transcript – Answer and submit via Canvas the Discussion Questions –
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The Supreme Court One Nation Under Law
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“It’s known as the court of last resort — the Supreme Court — where nine judges appointed for life make monumental decisions that govern our everyday lives, from the contents of the nation’s daily newspapers to what we can do in the privacy of our own homes. With immense power and considerable mystery, the court of final appeal has helped author the history of America.
One Nation Under Law
One Nation Under Law examines the creation of the Court and follows it through the brink of the Civil War, paying particular attention to the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court — John Marshall — and to his successor, Roger Taney. Marshall presided over one of the most famous cases before the Court; Taney, over one of the most infamous. In Marbury v. Madison (1803), Marshall used an obscure case involving an unsigned judicial appointment as an opportunity to assert the Court’s most important power — that of judicial review, which gives federal courts the right to strike down laws that clash with the Constitution. A half century later, in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Taney exercised that same power against the national government, this time to protect slavery.”
Overview Between the birth of the Republic and the Civil War, the Supreme Court discovered its purpose and its fallibility. In Marbury v. Madison(1803), Chief Justice John Marshall asserted the power of judicial review and established the Courts purpose. Fifty-four years later, Marshalls successor, Chief Justice Roger Taney, exercised that power in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) to protect slavery and leave the fate of the Union to armies on the battlefield.
Themes Segment 1:Partisan Politics The early republics politics are raw and partisan. Outgoing President JohnAdams packs the courts with Federalist judges and sets the stage for a constitutional crisis.
Segment 2: Marbury v.Madison and Judicial Review Chief Justice John Marshall lectures President Jefferson on the rule of law and establishes the Court as the primary interpreter of the Constitution.
Segment 3: The Infamy of the Dred Scott Decision The Supreme Court puts the Constitution squarely on the side of slavery, ruling that Congress cannot prohibit it in the new territories and further, that African Americans are not and never can be citizens of the United States. The decision solved nothing and moved the nation closer to civil war.
Discussion Questions
- Do you think judges should take an active role in politics, as Justice Samuel Chase did in the election of 1800? Why or why not?
2.Why was the establishment of judicial review important to the concept of checks and balances?
3.What impact did the Dred Scott decision have on Congresss efforts to find compromise and avoid war? What impact did it have on slaves and free blacks?