Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

Department of Veterans Affairs Helps veterans (people who have served in the

U.S. armed forces)

Note: The heads of these departments belong to the president’s Cabinet.

Source: The White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov)

The president of the United States oversees the 15 departments of the executive branch.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA United States Government 35

 

feature a jury and witnesses. A person

who loses a case in a district court can

appeal, or challenge, the decision in a

circuit court of appeals. Panels, or

groups, of judges usually hear cases in

courts of appeals. They have the power

to overturn, or undo, the judgments of

the lower courts.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest court

in the United States. The nine judges on

the Supreme Court are called justices.

One is the chief justice. The others are

associate justices.

Most of the cases that the Court hears

are appeals of cases that lower courts

have already decided. The justices vote

on which cases they will hear.

When the Court hears a case, lawyers for

both sides get a chance to speak. But

there are no witnesses, and there is no

jury. After hearing the case, the justices

meet in private to make a decision. A

majority of the justices must agree

before the Court can make its decision.

One justice writes a statement called an

opinion to explain the decision. Justices

who disagree with the decision can write

their own opinions, which are called

dissenting opinions. Judges on lower

courts often use Supreme Court opinions

to decide later cases.

A Supreme Court decision may be

reversed by amending, or changing, the

Constitution. The Court also may

reverse one of its own decisions in a later

case. For example, in 1896 it allowed

segregation (forced separation of blacks

and whites) in public places. Then in

1954, in the case of Brown vs. Board of

Education of Topeka, the Court ruled

that segregation of public schools was

illegal.

Judicial Review

The Supreme Court has the power to

overturn a U.S. law or a state law that

does not follow the U.S. Constitution.

John G. Roberts, Jr., appears before a U.S.

Senate committee. Roberts was the president’s

choice to be chief justice of the United

States, or chief judge of the Supreme Court.

But he could not start work until the Senate

had approved him. Each branch of government

has some power over the other two.

The nine members of the U.S. Supreme

Court are called justices. They wear robes

in their courtroom.

36 United States Government BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

The Court declares such laws to be

unconstitutional. This power, called

judicial review, is not mentioned in the

Constitution. The Court first used judicial

review in 1803, in a case called Marbury

vs. Madison.

#More to explore

Electoral College • Government • Law

• Political Party • United States

Constitution • Voting

Universe

The universe is everything that exists,

including objects and energy, throughout

time and space. Earth, the sun, and

the rest of the solar system are only a

very small part of the universe. The size

of the universe is difficult to imagine. It

is so large that light from very distant

objects in the universe must travel billions

of years before reaching Earth.

The universe is also called the cosmos.

Cosmology is the branch of science that

studies the universe as a whole.

Astronomy is another name for the

study of the universe.

The MilkyWay and Other

Galaxies

The sun is in a group of stars known as

the MilkyWay galaxy. A galaxy is a large

system of stars, gas, and dust. Until the

early 1900s scientists did not know for

certain that there were galaxies outside

the MilkyWay. By using powerful telescopes,

scientists now estimate that the

universe has billions of galaxies.

The MilkyWay galaxy alone contains

more than 100 billion stars. Some galaxies

are larger, and some are much

smaller. But even small galaxies contain

hundreds of millions of stars. Galaxies

have a variety of shapes. For example,

some galaxies have the shape of a pinwheel.

The Expanding Universe

Most scientists believe that the universe

began suddenly in an event called the

big bang. They estimate that this happened

between 10 and 15 billion years

ago. At first the universe was tightly

packed and hot. In the time since then it

has expanded and cooled off. Clouds of

matter have come together to form stars,

planets, and other objects in space.

Some scientists believe that the universe

may stop expanding and begin to

A picture taken from the Hubble Space Telescope

shows a galaxy called the Small

Magellanic Cloud. New stars are forming

from the galaxy’s hot gas and dust.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Universe 37

 

contract. But most scientists believe that

the universe will keep expanding forever.

#More to explore

Astronomy • Galaxy • Solar System

• Space Exploration

Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains of Russia form the

traditional boundary between Europe

and Asia. The Urals are about 1,550

miles (2,500 kilometers) long. They

extend from the Kara Sea in the north to

the Ural River in the south. The highest

peak is Mount Narodnaya at 6,217 feet

(1,895 meters).