8 Members of the Supreme Court

Outline

I.        Having an 8 person Supreme Court is not that bad because there hasn’t always been 9 people in the court, it’s rare to encounter a 4-4 person vote, if the votes are tied someone will break the tie.

II.        There hasn’t always been a 9person Supreme Court.

                 A.        In 1807 there were 7 people

                 B.        1837 there were 9 people

                 C.        In 1863 there were 10

                 D.        In 1866 it went back to 7

                         1.        They can act on any number of people, they can learn from the past and        see what they have done.

                    2.        If anything they can take someone down from office to make it uneven again.

                        3. Let president Obama choose the 9th candidate.

III.        It’s rare to have a 4-4 vote

1. There are more democrats than republicans in the court    

    IV.        If the votes are tied they can be broken.

A. They can go to the lower courts to have the tie broken

                                            a. They can learn the case just as much as the Supreme Court and make the wisest decision for the cases.

8 Members of the Supreme Court

        Since we lost a member of the Supreme Court (Antonin Scalia) the number of Justices decreased to 8. Some people might say it is a bad thing, some people will say it is a good thing, or that it does not make a difference at all. Having 8 members of the Supreme Court does not have a bad effect on our country. Having lost one person will not affect our country like some may make it seem. There have not always been 9 members in the court, it is rare to have a 4-4 person vote and if there is a tie there is always someone to break the tie (the lower courts).

        In the past there has not always been a 9 person Supreme Court. In 1807 and 1866 there were 7 people, in 1866 there were 10 people and so on. The Supreme Court can see what occurred in the past that worked for them. Ex patre Milligan being an example of a court case that was successfully decided in 1866 and they had an even number of Justices on the Supreme Court. The Justices can take from what they have done with the Ex parte Milligan case to successfully vote on the cases that were given to them recently. Yet having an even amount could be an abundance of work for the Courts, and sometimes the cases might be harder than others and the lower Courts will not be able to evaluate as effortless as the Supreme Court may have done.

        It is also rare for the votes to be tied 4-4 to where the tie needs to be broken. In the Supreme Court there are currently more Liberal Justices in the office; they tend to side with each other and have the same mindset. Most of the cases that the Justices need to determine will be one sided because there are less conservatives, which will create an imbalance in the votes to where there will not be a tie. But if the votes ever end in a tie they can and will get it figured out.  Also an issue could be the lower courts determining the outcome of the cases that the Supreme Court needs to determine.

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