This is the 99% of visible breakdown of the Constitution.

I'm Roman Mars.

And I'm Elizabeth Joe.

Today we are discussing Article 3, which establishes the judicial branch of the federal government.

Article 3 is much shorter than the first two articles that we've covered so far.

It begins.

The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such

inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good

behavior and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Article 3 goes on to talk about the jurisdiction of the federal courts, or which types of cases they're allowed to hear.

These include disputes about treaties, federal laws, and, of course, the Constitution.

But just as important as what's in Article 3 is what is not in Article III. More on that later. Our guest for this episode

is Adam Liptack, who covers the Supreme Court and other legal issues for the New York Times.

He started his career as a lawyer before transitioning to reporting almost 25

years ago. Adam's depth of knowledge about the Supreme Court and Article 3 makes him the

perfect guest. We talk about the legacy of the Roberts Court, while reforming the court is so difficult

and what it's like to be a Supreme Court reporter. But we start with what Adam believes surprises people most about this part of the Constitution.

I guess they think that it's an elaborate description of our sprawling federal judicial system,

when in fact all it does is create a Supreme Court, it doesn't even specify its size,

and it leaves to Congress a lot of the detail work.

Yeah.

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