The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. The Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Appointed to serve for life, they can be removed only by resignation, or by impeachment and subsequent conviction. The Supreme Court holds both original and appellate jurisdiction, with its appellate jurisdiction accounting for most of the Court's caseload. The Supreme Court meets in Washington, D.C., in the United States Supreme Court building. The Court's yearly terms usually start on the first Monday in October and finish sometime during the following June or July. Each term consists of alternating two week intervals. During the first interval, the court is in session and hears cases, and during the second interval, the court is recessed to consider and write opinions on cases they have heard.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1520: After a successful invasion of Sweden, Danish soldiers under King Christian II executed scores of Swedish leaders in the Stockholm Bloodbath. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Bloodbath)

1865: Henry Wirz, the superintendent of the Andersonville Prison, was hanged, becoming the only American Civil War soldier executed for war crimes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersonville_prison)

1871: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" – Henry Morton Stanley located missing missionary and explorer, David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morton_Stanley)

1969: Sesame Street debuted on the National Educational Television network in the United States. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street)

1995: Playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were executed by the Nigerian military government. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; we have frequently to exhaust the part of error, and even of folly, before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom. -- Friedrich Schiller (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller)