Institutions

Supreme Court of the United States

Also Known As SCOTUS

Citation Formats

General Reference

Political Atlas. "Supreme Court of the United States." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://political.interactiveatlas.org/institutions/supreme-court-of-the-united-states.

APA Style

Political Atlas. (n.d.). Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://political.interactiveatlas.org/institutions/supreme-court-of-the-united-states

BibTeX

@misc{politicalatlas-supreme-court-of-the-united-states,
  author = {Political Atlas},
  title = {Supreme Court of the United States},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://political.interactiveatlas.org/institutions/supreme-court-of-the-united-states},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States, established under Article III of the Constitution and given its organizational form by the Judiciary Act of 1789, signed into law on September 24, 1789. It exercises both original jurisdiction, chiefly in disputes between states or involving foreign diplomats, and appellate jurisdiction over cases from lower federal and state courts, hearing roughly 100 to 150 of the more than 7,000 cases it is asked to review each term. The Court has consisted of nine justices since 1869, each nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve during good behavior, effectively for life absent resignation, retirement, or removal; the number of justices fluctuated for political reasons in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before settling at nine. Its annual term runs from the first Monday in October to late June or early July, with oral arguments generally heard from October through April.

Facts

Founded Year

1789 1

Founded Date

1789-09-24 2

Headquarters

United States Supreme Court Building, 1 First Street NE, Washington, D.C., United States 3

The Court predates this building by well over a century; it sat elsewhere, including the Capitol, until the current building opened in 1935.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

United States

This source names United States directly: "The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States, established under Article III of the Constitution and given its organizational form by the..."

Source Supreme Court Procedures (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)

Influenced By

United States Constitution

Article III of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court.

Shaped

Judicial Review

The Supreme Court established its own power of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison (1803): "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is."

Source Federal Judicial Center: Marbury v. Madison

Sources

1. Supreme Court Procedures (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)

Administrative Office of the U.S. CourtsView the Source

2. Landmark Legislation: Judiciary Act of 1789 (Federal Judicial Center)

Federal Judicial CenterLandmark Legislation page

Quote, Landmark Legislation page

In the Judiciary Act of 1789, the First Congress provided the detailed organization of a federal judiciary that the Constitution had sketched only in general terms.

View the Source

3. Supreme Court of the United States (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationInfobox

Quote, Infobox