We examined the role of the US Supreme Court in maintaining a consistent application of federal law across the country, as well as the two circumstances where the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. In that regard, we reviewed the role of judicial review in the case of Marbury v Madison and discussed how Justice Marshall's famous decision was premised, not on the concept of judicial review, but on the Court's lack of original jurisdiction to hear Marbury's valid claim. Olivia then offered some good definitions of judicial review, stare decisis, and precedent. I discussed how the US Supreme Court is not bound by precedent under certain circumstances . We reviewed those circumstances in the context of pending abortion rights cases. Last, we examined the mechanics of how the justices decide which cases to accept as there are close to 10,000 requests for review filed each term of which the Court accepts about 80. For homework, I assigned finishing the study guide on the Supreme Court and completing a review sheet on the federal court system.