[6] Therefore, the question of the need to create a Supreme Court arose after the Soviet Union was established.
Stalin installed new judges in the USSR Supreme Court, who were given significantly more power under the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union.
[5] During De-Stalinization, Soviet criminal law from the Stalin Era was revised, including the elimination of harsh penalties for labor infractions, abortion, and petty theft.
Potential nominees had to pass the scrutiny of the Chairman of the Supreme Court and the Minister of Justice.
Later in 1962, the Court instituted a Scientific Advisory Council, which introduced legal scholars into the process of formulating judicial directives as consultants.
[5] Gorbachev's policies of reform allowed for the press and jurists to expose the abuses in the Soviet administration of justice.
The USSR Supreme Court contributed to the legitimisation of Gorbachev's reforms, not just purely in justice, as it played a role in reintroducing the arts that Stalin once repressed.
Additionally, political leaders whom were initially purged or condemned by the Soviet Union, were revived by Supreme Court investigations.
[5] It was proposed that the constitutional functions of the USSR Supreme Court would be returned, chiefly in relation to the instructions and directives of bureaucratic agencies.