Nature and Power of the U.S. Supreme Court in American Politics

The U.S. Supreme Court is an institution whose nature and power evolved gradually in well over 200 years of decision making, punctuated by political turmoil and near disasters that engulfed the Court. In this chapter, we examine the nature and evolution of the Court’s power in American politics by focusing on four areas of Supreme Court development: Ambivalence and uncertainty over the Court’s power and independence; The Judiciary Act of 1789; Foundation of judicial supremacy and the application of judicial review; Constraints on the exercise of judicial power. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.