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Article III of the Constitution gives us the courts

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actually it only gives us the Supreme Court

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that there are lower federal courts at all depends on Congress

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Supreme Court

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decides cases, but not just any case

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cases that you cannot leave to state courts

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where we need to have one interpretation for the whole country, not for only one state

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when you can't trust a state court to be impartial, e.g. when one state sues another state

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makes sure that federal law means the same thing in different parts of the country

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resolve disagreements of state courts about the meaning of federal law and the Constitution

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it waits for cases to come to it

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it can't reach out and make a decision on a case on its own initiative

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courts are passive, not active

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in this sense it is weaker than Congress or the President who can initiate actions on their own

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in some ways they are stronger

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it has the power to strike down a law

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it has the power to order the President not to do something, "You think you can seize the steel mills, Harry Truman? We disagree, give them back."

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has the last word on the meaning of the Constitution

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but will they listen?

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Congress can take away spending from programs they don't like

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the President has the FBI and the army and can use force to get his way

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in the early days the Supreme Court was not as respected as it is now

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didn't meet in current majestic building, built in the 1930s, but met in the basement of the Capitol

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decisions were not always respected

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1831: dispute between Cherokee nation and Georgia

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court said land belongs to Indians

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Georgia ignored it and the Supreme Court was powerless to stop it

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1953: Supreme Court ordered states to desegregate their schools

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101 Southern members of Congress signed a manifesto denouncing the decision

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Southern governors vowed to resist

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1957: Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to stop African American students from attending Little Rock Central High School

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Federal district court in Arkansas ordered the National Guard to stand down and they did

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but the police who replaced them were unable to control the crowds

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President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne

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an example of: if force is required, it has to come from either Congress or the President, not the Supreme Court, who only makes the ruling

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this is the difference between the Cherokee case and the Little Rock case

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Cooper v. Aaron settled this dispute, ruling that "the states were bound by the Supreme Court's decisions and had to enforce them even if the states disagreed with them"

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the reason we obey the Supreme Court is not because they always make good decisions

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it's because we feel that these decisions are independent of states' interests

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Constitutions goes to great lengths to make sure that decision of Supreme Court is neutral

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judges hold their offices for life

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the independent judiciary is probably the most important aspect of the government now in terms of the separation of powers, especially because of the party system

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one party can take over the Presidency and Congress pretty quickly

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Supreme Court is harder to capture

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political party has to control the presidency for a long time to control the court to provide new judges