CHAPTER XVI THE COURTS, THE LAW, AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE. _The purpose of this chapter is to show how the courts are organized and what systems of law they administer._ THE COURTS [Sidenote: The supreme justices.] =The Highest Court in the Land.=—Visitors to the Capitol at Washington on any week day from October to June are usually interested to see a group of nine distinguished-looking men, robed in silk gowns, passing at noon through the long corridor into a room where a clerk begins to call out, “Oyez! Oyez!”[137] This is the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the land and the most powerful tribunal in the world. It consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices, all of them appointed for life by the President with the consent of the Senate. They cannot be removed from office except by impeachment. The court holds its sessions in the chamber which was used by the Senate in the days when that body was small. The justices sit in a row, the chief justice in the center, with four associates on each side of him. There is no jury, and for the most part the court simply hears the arguments of attorneys on points of law in cases which have been appealed. The sessions begin at twelve o’clock, and continue, with a brief interruption for luncheon, until late in the afternoon. Every Saturday morning the court meets behind closed doors to agree upon its decisions and on Mondays the decisions are publicly announced. These nine justices are the supreme guardians of the constitution, entrusted with the duty of seeing that its provisions are duly respected by all officials of government from the President and Congress down to the humblest officeholder. Their mandate is binding upon everyone within the jurisdiction of the United States.[138] [Sidenote: The power to declare laws unconstitutional.] =The Supreme Court’s Power.=—Congress, as has been pointed out, is the lawmaking branch of the federal government. With the approval of the President its power to enact laws, within the limits prescribed by the constitution, is complete and final. The state legislatures are the lawmaking organs of state government and with the approval of the governors the authority of the state legislatures to make laws within limits prescribed by the national and state constitutions is also complete and final. Yet the Supreme Court, by a majority vote of its nine justices, may nullify laws passed by either Congress or the state legislatures. It has done so on many occasions. Why have we given to this small group of men, appointed for life, the power to set aside the action of the people’s representatives? [Sidenote: Reason for this authority.]