00:00Hey world, it's Danielle Young and this is The Overexplainer.
00:05If you're a human with a heart and a brain, chances are you're upset that no matter what
00:10despicable acts Brett Kavanaugh allegedly has done, he has made it to the highest ranking
00:16judicial body in the United States. We've got every right to be mad at Brett Kavanaugh becoming
00:21a Supreme Court justice. What's going to make you even angrier is finding out exactly how much
00:26power and privilege a Supreme Court justice has. Allow me to over explain it to you. First of all,
00:31how does one become a Supreme Court justice? The President of the United States nominates the
00:36justices to the court. Yes, Brett Kavanaugh is in this honorable position because of Donald Trump,
00:42your president, but he doesn't work alone. The President nominates someone for a vacancy on the
00:47court and the Senate, who are there to advise and consent, votes to confirm the nominee, which
00:52requires a simple majority. This means that the executive and the legislative branches of the
00:56federal government have a voice in the makeup of the Supreme Court. So it wasn't just Trump.
01:02Let that sink in. The Constitution actually lacks any qualifications or rules for someone to be a
01:08Supreme Court justice. All Supreme Court justices have been trained in the law in some way. So does
01:13this mean that all the people of color who earn law degrees in prison can get a seat at the Supreme
01:18Court table too? Probably not. Supreme Court justice Robert H. Jackson didn't even go to undergrad.
01:25And Justice James F. Burns didn't even graduate from high school. He taught himself law and was
01:31appointed in 1941 when he was 23 years old. Ooh, child, the privilege, but also the ghetto. You don't
01:39even have to be born a U.S. citizen to be a Supreme Court justice. The Supreme Court is the final judge
01:44in all cases involving the Congress and the Constitution. Y'all, this is the highest law
01:50that there is in the United States. Hilarious, considering that the latest confirmed justice
01:55has issues obeying the law. Last time I checked, perjuring yourself in front of Congress is a felony.
02:02The Supreme Court is essentially the referee of the government. They call out officials who step out
02:06of bounds. Throughout history, the number of justices on the court have fluctuated, but now
02:10they've settled on nine. Come through diversity, I guess. And out of those nine sitting Supreme
02:16Court justices, they ruled five to four that Trump had the legal authority to restrict travel
02:22from mostly Muslim countries. Even though the Supreme Court ruled five to four on making same-sex
02:28marriage a constitutional right in 2015, by 2018, the court ruled seven to two in favor of the Colorado
02:35Baker, who refused to bake a cake for a gay couple. The Supreme Court protects civil rights and liberties
02:41by striking down laws that violate the Constitution. How have y'all been feeling about civil rights over
02:47the last, I don't know, 400 years or so? Because I don't feel good. While the Supreme Court justice position
02:54is typically considered a forever thing, the Constitution actually states that justices shall hold their offices
03:00during good behavior. Too easy. Basically, justices hold their office for as long as they choose to and can
03:09only lose their title by impeachment. There has been only one justice impeachment and that was in 1805. The Supreme Court
03:16sets boundaries on the government that ensure that popular majorities cannot pass laws that harm and or take undue
03:23advantage of unpopular minorities. That means that when the majority changes their minds on views, the values that we're
03:29supposed to have, like freedom of speech, religion or due process, are upheld. Out of the 10,000 petitions the
03:36Supreme Court receives every year, the justices only accept 80 of them as cases at their own choosing. What
03:43really sucks is that the Supreme Court is the last resort for those looking for justice. The Supreme Court
03:49confirming people like Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas is a testament of what America is. Don't even get me
03:55started on America's second black Supreme Court justice. The U.S. government built its power with privilege and there
04:01seems to be no end in sight to the ridiculous privilege parade.
04:13God help us all. Until next time, I'm Danielle Young and this is The Overexplainer.
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