Running head: AMERICAN POLITICS 1
American Politics
Mahmoud Sadeq
TA: Jelena Novakovic
AMERICAN POLITICS
2. What factors influence the decisions that Supreme Court Justices make? Based on
your depiction of the judicial decision-making process, do you think the Supreme Court can
be an effective institution of democracy and an agent of social change in a Madisonian
Democratic system?
The Supreme Court of the United States is a very powerful institution that has no
analogs in other democratic countries. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has enormous power.
The Supreme Court has a particular position because, during the nineteenth century, it took
on the role of the higher federal arbitrator, endowed with the power to approve, modify, or
even cancel decisions of lower federal courts and decisions of all other institutions of federal,
state, and municipal authorities. It is therefore not surprising that the various public US forces
are trying to use the Supreme Court to protect their interests and realize their political goals.
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