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Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

9 2.7
The highest court in the United States that decides important questions about the law for the whole country
  • proper noun
  • US
translation icon : Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos
  • Rex, you argued some 57 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
  • Supreme Court of the United States ruled
  • Supreme Court of the United States upheld

Tonight, we are deeply honored to have as our speaker Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Examples

  • The Supreme Court of the United States, formerly the protector of the Constitution, has been taken captive by its enemies.

    Academic text (1999)

  • We can no longer be slaves to an unelected majority of five people on the Supreme Court of the United States.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Now the federal government owns the cross, and the case will eventually reach the Supreme Court of the United States.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Appointed 1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by George Washington.

    Blog text (4)

  • "The Supreme Court of the United States has reversed itself, changed its mind."

    Academic text (2002)

  • I don't think the Supreme Court of the United States ever meant to say anything like that.

    Academic text (2000)

  • As it turns out, I was right—according to the Supreme Court of the United States.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Tonight, we are deeply honored to have as our speaker Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

    Stanford

  • In a case concerning the privatization of prisons in Tennessee, the Supreme Court of the United States addressed the limited duration of Tennessee's prison contracts and the power of that state to cancel at any time after the first year of operation.

    Academic text (2017)

  • Today, the cases of two detainees were argued before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Synonyms

Supreme Court
vsSupreme Court of the United States
  • US
656 3.1

The highest court in the United States that makes final decisions for all other courts

is the same body but is usually expressed with the full formal title
United States Supreme Court
vsSupreme Court of the United States
  • Formal
22 3.3

The highest court in the United States that decides important national cases and reviews lower court decisions

is the same institution but uses a different official name form

Surface Forms

Supreme Court of the United States main

Morphology

supreme + court + of + the + united + state

The phrase is fully compositional: 'supreme' (highest) modifies 'court' (a judicial body) and 'of the United States' specifies the nation, so together it denotes the highest court in that country. This lexical and syntactic logic is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The Supreme Court of the United States gets its name from the word supreme, meaning the highest, and court, meaning a place where judges meet, so it gives the image of the top judges in one room. That's why it is the 'final' court for the whole country.