The US supreme court - Essay Example

For the appointment of a Supreme Court Judge to be confirmed by the Senate, a simple majority is required. Judges of the Supreme Court can be impeached and removed from office if they are found to be involved in misdemeanour or criminal activities (Abraham, 1992). The existence of the US Supreme Court is a necessity because of the roles it plays in several aspects of the legal framework of the country, such as its support for the civil rights movement, which received legal sanctity with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This was a ground-breaking legislation in the country because it did away with most forms of discrimination against women and Blacks and with racial segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally eliminated discrimination in voter registration as well as racial discrimination in educational institutions and at the work place. However, during the initial years, the constitutional validity of the Civil Rights Act was disputed in the context of its applicability to the private sector. In many of the important civil rights hearings, the US Supreme Court had held that Congress was not legally empowered to prevent discriminatory practices in the private sector. . This ruling marked the beginning of the effectiveness of the separate but equal concept in the US.

In 1971, the US Supreme Court held in the case titled Griggs v. Duke Power Co that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not permit discrimination at the work place and also that employers cannot adopt practices that are discriminatory towards women and minorities. In case titled University of Alabama v. Garrett, the Supreme Court held that the 11th Amendment did not permit state employees to file applications in federal courts to seek financial compensation for discriminatory practices used by employers in violation of the Americans with Disabilites Act.

This decision revealed that the Supreme Court has not been favourable in regard to civil rights issues. It held that even if the state’s actions are indicative of being hard hearted, they may not necessarily violate provisions of the Constitution (The Leadership Conference, 2012). The US Supreme Court is a democratically legitimate institution because it acts under the given provisions and its judges are elected in keeping with the due process of law. However, the appointment of Supreme Court judges during the President Roosevelt’s time came under cloud because between 1933 and 1937, the Supreme Court had declared six of Roosevelt's eight major New Deal programs unconstitutional.

Roosevelt wanted to prevent the Supreme Court from rejecting his future New Deal proposals and he reacted by introducing a scheme whereby new judges would be appointed to the Supreme Court and who would be supportive of his plans (Crawford, 2008). Roosevelt introduced a plan that gave him authority to appoint a new judge for