Customer Reviews

The Supreme Court (True Books: American History)

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The United States Supreme Court is made up of "nine judges known as justices." The court they serve under together is the "highest court in the land." They receive thousands of requests, but can only review and rule on a handful in the scheme of things because if they tried they would simply be overwhelmed and ineffective. It is a very special honor to be elected to the Supreme Court and once elected, they serve for the rest of their lives. Our government is made up of three branches: the legislative (they make the laws), the executive (they carry out the laws) and the judicial (they interpret the laws and make sure "they are used and applied fairly.")

This is a "True Book." In the front it has two sentences, only one of which is true. You'll have to read the book in order to find the true one, but in the process you'll learn all about the Supreme Court. In this book you'll learn about the appeal process and how a case gets to the Court, what types of cases they accept, its early origin, you'll learn about the lower courts, our thirteen circuit courts, who appoints them, the power they yield (i.e., John Marshall's), famous cases and what goes on in the Supreme Court today. Which chief justice was appointed to the court, but did not serve? You'll really have to scour the book to find the answer to this question!

This is an excellent overview of the Supreme Court. It is very well researched and set up in an easy to follow format. There is a 2006 portrait of the Supreme Court justices, but this book is not about specific members, but about the court itself. Scattered throughout the book are interesting facts, numerous informative sidebars, photographs, illustrations, a court circuit map (1790) and a timeline of famous justices. In the back of the book there is a statistics page, a list of important words (highlighted in bold print throughout the book), an index and additional recommended book and website resources. "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!" Let the learning begin!

The author presents amazing, true details on the workings of the Supreme Court, along with an overview of its justices. An interesting read for early elementary children.