Importance of the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court can be thought of as the last word in legislative and policy disputes. Charged with interpreting the U.S. Constitution and being the highest court in America, the Supreme Court is where the most serious civil and voting rights disputes, labor and employment rules, and federal statutes go for final settlement. Supreme Court decisions in the past have determined the duty of fair representation, Steele v. Louisville & N.R.R., and representation during disciplinary hearings, NLRB v. J. Weingarten. Recent court decisions have decided such things as photo identification requirements for voters, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protection for public employees, and rights of detainees.

Who are these powerful people? They are the nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States appointed by the president with the advice and consent of Congress. While Congress creates laws, the Supreme Court interprets those laws and is the branch of government ultimately responsible for the most important law of our nations: the Constitution of the United States. One justice is appointed as the chief justice and has additional administrative duties related both to the Supreme Court and to the entire federal court system.

The Supreme Court convenes on the first Monday of October each year and usually continues in session through June. The Supreme Court receives and disposes of about 5,000 cases each year, most by a brief decision that the subject matter is either not proper or not of sufficient importance to warrant review by the full court. Cases are heard en banc, which means by all the justices sitting together in open court. Each year the court decides about 150 cases of great national importance and interest, and about threefourths of such decisions are announced in full published opinions. The Supreme Court is located across the street from the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.

Currently, the nine Justices of the Supreme Court can be viewed as divided five to four, conservative to moderate, or pro-employer vs. pro-worker. This is the vote pattern that is reflected in many of their decisions, from Bush v. Gore, which settled the 2000 election in favor of George Bush, to Garcetti v. Ceballos, which held that public employees lose their freedom of speech rights on their job, and Ragsdale v. Wolverine Worldwide, which nullified a Department of Labor rule that forced employers to notify employees of their FMLA rights. The decisions coming out of the current Supreme Court tend to favor corporations over workers and government over citizens.

The sitting justices consist of one appointed by former President Gerald Ford, two by Ronald Reagan, two by George Bush, two by Bill Clinton, and two by George W. Bush. Their ages range from Justice John Paul Stevens at 88 and Ruth Ginsburg at 75, to Chief Justice John Roberts at 54. The new president, Barack Obama, is likely to appoint at least two justices in his first term, but it will take years to sway the court back toward the center, as the more conservative justices are the youngest.

Independence of the Supreme Court at Risk

Our Constitution establishes an independent federal judiciary to be a bulwark of individual liberty against incursions or expansions of power by the political branches. That independence is what makes our judiciary the model for others around the world. That independence is at grave risk when a president seeks to pack the courts with activists from either side of the political spectrum. We need fair judges, not sure votes for a partisan agenda.

UAW Members and Their Rights

UAW members looking to protect worker pensions, health and safety at work, and the right to organize have many reasons to be concerned about who is appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

We said during the last presidential election that the next president would very likely appoint up to three of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices, in addition to numerous federal district and appeals court judges. Two of these have come to pass.

U.S. Business Interests

A conservative court would favor business interests over workers’ rights, environmental protections, and consumer concerns. We should also be very alarmed at how a conservative-style court could erode civil rights, protections against discrimination and harassment, voting rights, free speech, and other rights and freedoms long held by Americans.