Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the freedom of those who were enslaved in the United States.

The holiday was first celebrated in Texas in 1865, after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.

The celebratory colors of Juneteenth are the same as those of the American flag. This symbolizes that those who had been enslaved and their descendants were true Americans. According to Mental Floss, the star in the middle is in honor of Texas and the bursting star on the horizon represents new people with a new way of life.

The United States Supreme Court was established by the United States Constitution when they instituted the Judiciary Act of 1789. The first time the Supreme Court assembled was on Feb. 1, 1790. The assembly took place in the Merchants Exchange Building located in New York City. At that time, New York City was the Nation’s capital.

Unfortunately, Chief Justice John Jay had to postpone the initial meeting of the Court one day. This was due to several of the Justices having transportation issues. In the first couple of years, the Supreme Court worked on organizational proceedings. On August 3, 1791, the Justices handed down their first decision on the case of West versus Barnes.

The President appoints people to be members of the Supreme Court. These people are the ones who ensure the Judiciary system and judges are protected from partisan pressures. The Constitution states that all the Supreme Justices are able to serve for life. The Constitution also gives them further independence by ensuring that their salaries may never be changed during their entire term.

Justices generally serve an average of 16 years. The number of justices has changed since President George Washington originally appointed six. The number is now nine Justices serving in the Supreme Court.

Pew Research does not use volunteers for their polls. They state in their frequently asked questions that “a survey of volunteers is a ‘non-probability sample’ and the results cannot be generalized to the public as a whole.”

The key to research conducted by a survey is it needs to have a random sample of people so that every type of person has an equal opportunity to have their views captured in the survey.  If the polls accepted volunteers, it would violate this principle because not everyone would have an opportunity to be included.

However, people should participate in research surveys to express their opinions to the leaders of the nation. Public officials and other leaders pay attention to the results of polls and generally take the result into consideration when making decisions.

Polls or surveys measure public opinion and document the experiences of the public on a variety of topics. The results of these surveys provide information to be used by those in academics, researchers, and government officials. The polls help keep leaders informed so they can make wise decisions that benefit the people as a whole.

Major professional organizations of survey researchers have a clear code of ethics for their members. The codes cover the responsibilities of pollsters with respect to the treatment of those who respond, their relationships with clients, and their responsibilities to the public when they are reporting on polls.