On February 18, 2006 Richard Knock, a member of the Scholarship Committee, presented Kristen Briggs "The George S. & Stella Knight Essay Contest" Certificate. Kristen Briggs gave a reading of the winning essay. Charles A. Smart, Chapter President, awarded her the Bronze Good Citizenship Medal Certificate and Bronze Medal.

This contest was originally named in honor of SAR Compatriot President Calvin Coolidge who won an SAR essay contest while a student at Amherst. The contest was reestablished in 1988 by Compatriot McCarthy DeMere.

In 1995, the contest was renamed the George S. and Stella M. Knight Essay Contest in honor of their generous gift to the SAR to support this contest. The contest is designed to give high school students an opportunity to explore events that shaped American History.

The United States Supreme Court as Defined by the Constitution: Its Impact Today

by Kristen Briggs
Presentation High School

“Alexander Hamilton, writing in the No. 78 of the Federalist Papers, described the Supreme Court of the United States as the ‘least dangerous’ of the three branches of the federal government.” This judicial branch, the Founding Fathers believed, would not be influenced by politics or the extreme emotions of the people, and thus could better provide checks and balances on the President of the U.S. and two houses of Congress. Kenneth W. Starr nevertheless describes the Court as the “first among equals, the branch of government with the authoritative role in vital issues that deeply affect American life.” However, throughout history, the presidents have tried to “pack the Courts” by nominating justices who would best support their political philosophies in their case decisions. Despite previous political leanings of its judges, the Supreme Court, with the foundation set forth in the Constitution as well as its more recent history, clearly has the power to maintain its presupposed impartiality and to continue to make decisions that define our country’s greatness.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America was established in Article III and Section I of the U.S. Constitution. In creating a judicial system for the country, the founders intended to provide more effective checks on the power of the Executive and Legislative branches of government. As “the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and the Supreme Court is the guardian of the Constitution,” the Court’s main power is that of judicial review, which allows the justices to decide whether acts of Congress and the President support Constitutional ideals. The lower courts of the U.S. government look to the rulings of the Supreme Court to guide their decisions on their own cases; thus the precedents set by the Supreme Court are vitally important to the functioning of the U.S. government, as their philosophies and choices are applied daily by justices in other districts. With appointments for life or until resignation, a Supreme Court justice’s tenure in office effectively prevents him or her from being pressured by political parties and other interest groups who can make or break the success of the President and Congressmen.

The Supreme Court justices are not meant to be partisan officials in the government, however they still hold personal views about the law and how the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted. These opinions can drive their decisions in the cases argued before the Court. As Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes declared, “We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.” Because the Constitution was written over 200 years ago, justices of the Supreme Court must decide how narrowly or broadly to apply specific aspects of the Constitution to the modern world. While the rulings of the Warren Court (1953 to 1969) demonstrated an activism that benefited the civil rights movement by broadly applying ideals of the Constitution, the Rehnquist Court (1983 to July 2005) has generally been more conservative and favored a traditionalist philosophy.

At present, the Supreme Court is essentially balanced between those judges who tend to vote more liberally, and those who more often than not vote conservatively. Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter, and Stevens are known for their more liberal decisions, whereas Justices Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas and newly appointed Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. are considered more conservative in their given opinions.
John G. Roberts, Jr. was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in July of 2005 to replace William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the Court. Roberts is well-respected for his credentials; however, multiple liberal groups fear that he is too conservative in his views, particularly on abortion. However he recently stated that there is nothing in his personal beliefs that would make him fail to follow the precedent set by Roe v. Wade.

The ninth Supreme Court judge, retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, frequently provided the swing vote in deadlocked case decisions. In fact, most Supreme Court decisions are 5 votes to 4, and by no means unanimous. Justice O’Connor has played a vital role in keeping an odd-numbered U.S. Supreme Court balanced by interpreting and examining the law without a clear conservative or liberal bias, just as the founding fathers would have had it.

Because of the current political balance in the Supreme Court with Justice O’Connor, George W. Bush’s nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr. is highly contested in the political arena. Alito, who was nominated in November 2005 after Justice O’Connor’s retirement was announced, cites O’Connor’s rulings as a deciding factor in his case opinions, but often pushes in a more conservative direction than O’Connor intended. Charles Lane of the Washington Post grants that “Alito Leans Right, Where O’Connor Swung Right,” but also presents the evidence that he is less clearly conservative than many liberals fear. On the topic of abortion, Lane says that “the differences in judicial philosophy between Alito and O'Connor are not absolute. He has not flatly written that Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's 1973 abortion rights ruling, should be overturned -- as have some other conservatives who were thought to be on Bush's list for the court.”
While it is apparent and understandable that President Bush is attempting to exert his influence on the Court through his power of appointment, we do not know that his choices will tip the balanced scale. Former Chief Justice William Rehnquist argues that justices are “independent not only of public opinion, of the president, and of Congress, but of one’s eight colleagues as well. When one puts on the robe, one enters a world of public scrutiny and professional criticism which sets great store by individual performance, and much less store upon the virtue of being a ‘team player.’” If all current justices individually make careful decisions in the interpretation of the Constitution as it best applies to the people of the United States today, their thoughtful deliberations will continue to preserve the ideals of freedom and justice set forth by our founding fathers in the Constitution.

Bibliography

Baker, Peter and Jim VandeHei. “Bush Chooses Roberts for Court.” The Washington Post. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/19/AR2005071900725.html> (13 Dec, 2005).

Gill, Kathy. “Supreme Court Swing-Vote Cases.” About, Inc. 31 Oct, 2005. <http://uspolitics.about.com/od/supremecourt/p/swing_vote.htm> (12 Dec, 2005).

Lane, Charles. “Alito Leans Right, Where O’Connor Swung Right.” The Washington Post. 1 Nov, 2005. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103101865.html> (12 Dec, 2005).

Lindop, Edmund. The Changing Supreme Court. New York: Grolier Publishing, 1995.

Rehnquist, William. The Supreme Court: How It Was, How It Is. New York, William Marrow and Company, Inc., 1987.

Starr, Kenneth W. First Among Equals. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 2002.



Biography

Kristen Briggs is currently a senior at Presentation High School in San Jose, California. She is a full member of both the California Scholarship Federation and the Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society, and was recently named a Fellow of the Presentation Math and Science Academy. Kristen has participated on the Presentation tennis team for four years, and served as captain for the last two. She enjoys working school functions and representing her school as a member of the Presentation Ambassadors Club, for which she served as Service Secretary her junior year. Outside of school, Kristen volunteers as a Cat Care Specialist at the Humane Society Silicon Valley, and is currently working towards the completion of her Girl Scout Gold Award project. She has also been involved in the Children of the American Revolution since third grade, and has been Society President of the Captain Matthew Ramsay Society for two years. Kristen hopes to attend Pomona College, a small and highly selective liberal arts college in Claremont, California, and plans to focus her studies in English and Psychology.