The History of the U.S. Supreme Court

It is my great pleasure to announce the subject of our July meeting: The History of the United States Supreme Court.

At this meeting, we’ll explore the history of our nation’s highest court, the Supreme Court, since the Constitution declared its existence in 1789 up to the present day. We will see how the role of the Supreme Court has changed over two centuries. We’ll “meet” some of the justices and take a look at some of the more controversial cases. We might even take sides and have an argument (in a respectful way, of course, as has been our tradition).

Of course, it will be very difficult to cover more than 200 years in just two hours, so we might continue the same topic in August. At the end of the meeting, we’ll form our own supreme court to decide whether this is what we want to do -- or whether we would rather move on to another exciting topic. Hopefully, we’ll vote unanimously!

You are invited to attend regardless of how much or how little knowledge of the subject you have. Researching the subject beforehand is strongly encouraged, but not required. The only requirement is to listen to others politely, and to add insightful comments of your own, if you’re moved to do so.

Important reminder: it has been a tradition of this group during the two years of its existence that everyone brings a snack to share. Let us keep this tradition! Exploring ideas is a hard intellectual work, and with that in mind, we nourish ourselves with nuts, crackers, fruits, veggies or anything else of caloric nature. Juice or other libations are also welcome!

Second important reminder: we respectfully request a $2 donation in order to cover the cost associated with running this meetup.