Asupreme court also known as acourt of last resort andcourt of final appeal, is generally the highestcourt in acountry.[1] This means that, decisions made by the Supreme Court can't be challenged at other courts. However, not all highest courts are named as such.Civil law countries do not tend to have only one high court. Additionally, the highest court in some jurisdictions is not named the "Supreme Court". Forexample, theHigh Court of Australia. In some places the court named the "Supreme Court" is not the highest court. Examples include theNew York Supreme Court, the Supreme Courts of severalprovinces and territories of Canada and the formerSupreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales. Decisions made in these courts are all subject to higher courts of appeal. Some countries have a separateconstitutional court, a high court that deals with issues regarding that country'sconstitution.
Many, like theSupreme Court of the United States, at times become involved inpolitical issues.[2] These include the Supreme Courts ofEgypt,Pakistan,Israel,India andKuwait.[2] One of the mostcontroversial political decisions wasBush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000),[3] a United States Supreme Court decision that resolved the dispute surrounding the2000 United States presidential election.[4] There has been a good deal of controversy over the European Court of Justice reviewing decisions made by member state governments.[5] The president of theSupreme Court of Israel,Aharon Barak, has been criticized for, along with others,dominating the government of Israel.[5]
