Why do all of the planets have orbits that lie in nearly the same plane and that are in the same direction -- counterclockwise looking down on the solar system from far above the Earth's North Pole

Because of the way the Sun formed

Explanation:

The original cloud was spinning, and this spin caused it to flatten out into a disk shape due contracting as gravity pulled its parts toward the center. This dust cloud rotated slowly at first but sped up as it contracted, in much the same way that a figure skater spins more quickly when she pulls her arms closer to her body. (This law of physics is known as angular momentum.) The faster rotation flattened the cloud, with the Sun at the center and planets forming within that plane

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