Sunday, May 2, 2010
For Class on 5/7: The Courts
In Federalist #78, Alexander Hamilton was perhaps the first to forcefully argue that the judicial branch is the weakest branch of the American government. However the powers and roles of the Supreme Court has evolved over time along with the size of the federal judiciary. Many have argued that it is perhaps the most powerful branch due to the finality of its Constitutional interpretations and independence from the political forces which dominate the executive and legislative branches. Based on the reading in the textbook and your background knowledge, how would you rate the power and influence of the Judicial Branch relative to the other branches? Explain your position with some real life example if possible. Also feel free to open the discussion to the justice system in general, including local and state courts. This will serve us well as we look forward to discussing civil rights and civil liberties in the next few weeks.
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The Judicial Branch is the least sexy for a number of reasons. Justices aren't elected so they don't speak in public much, and when they do it's usually to a dry old convocation of blue-haired legal scholars about some obscure court case from 1820. (Which, by the way, I love. Thank heavens for C-SPAN3.)
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how fast things change. It was just a few years ago when there were books like 'Men in Black' and 'The Nine' about how the courts had become an out-of-control, arbitrary, and wholly unaccountable left-wing institution; legislating from the bench while ignoring the Constitution. I'm only gonna say this once: The courts have one responsibility and one responsibility only: to declare a law constitutional or unconstitutional. Then, like Robert Bork said, "Go home." It's that simple. Leave the legislation to the legislators. What a novel idea.
There are three branches of the American government: legislative, judicial, and executive. They operate in a system of checks and balances to ensure that no one branch is able to dominate over the others usurping their designated powers and responsibilities. The Judicial Branch is often perceived as the weakest of the three branches of government but in reality it is just as important as the other two branches. The Judicial branch checks the power of Congress (the Legislative Branch) and the President (the Executive Branch) because it has the ability to determine whether Acts of Congress (laws) and the President's Executive Orders are constitutional,
ReplyDeleteThere are various reasons why the judicial branch seems to be the weakest and the first is that it has no power to act on its own. Second it has no power to enforce what it does. The courts make rulings only within proper lawsuits (called cases and controversies in the US Constitution). Unless there is a lawsuit raising an issue of proper application of a law, the court has no power to act. Even if a law is passed by Congress that is obviously unconstitutional, the courts may not simply take it upon themselves to review it. It has to sit and wait and see if anyone sues to challenge it.
Article II of the United States Constitution establishes the Executive Branch and grants to this nation's Chief Executive, the President, the power and authority to execute the laws of the United States. The President also plays a significant role in shaping the composition of the Supreme Court and of the Federal Court system.
There is a delicate balance at work here. The Supreme Court's ruling must be accepted as correct, even if the President believes it is wrong. He has sworn to uphold the Constitution, not just those parts he agrees with. If he deliberately refuses to enforce a Supreme Court ruling, Congress has the power to impeach him/her and perhaps remove him/her from office for failing to uphold the Constitution. So Congress's power of impeachment hangs over the President's head as a means to make the President enforce all of the laws, including ones he does not like.
In Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton addresses the role of the judiciary branch within the federal government and explicitly states
ReplyDeletethat the judicial branch has the least amount of power among the three branches of government.
But, the Judiciary has accumulated an increase in political influence through judiciary review and has proven to be an essential institution in the separation of powers as well as an active participant in the system of checks and balances.
Some of the facts are that the Judicial branch has the authority to void any legislative act that is beyond the scope of its constitutional power. In other words, an unconstitutional law can be voided by the courts. They simply refuse to enforce it.
It also interprets laws that are vague which sometimes changes a law's intended meaning (now that's a big influence).
Additionally, the chief justice presides over a president's impeachment. And of course don't forget the "privilege" of a lifetime appointment (no need to face re-election).
Concerning the Supreme Court, because it represents the last stop in the judicial system, it has tremendous power in the American political system. Legalities regarding abortion, campaign finance and detainment of terrorist suspects, to name just a few, have been established by the court, establishing the legal boundaries for these critical public policy issues. Due to its position of power, justices on the high court have been caught up in high stakes political battles in Congress, where Presidential nominees must be confirmed by the Senate.
Alexander Hamilton in "Federalist 78" referred to the Supreme Court as the "least dangerous" branch of the proposed national government because it possessed neither the power of "the purse" (legislative power) nor that of "the sword" (executive power). Hamilton made two principal points. First, he argued for the independence of the judiciary from the other two branches of government, the executive and the legislative. In presenting a case for the judiciary, he reached his second major conclusion: that the judiciary must be empowered to strike down laws passed by Congress that it deems "contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution." Over the years the judicial branch became stronger as it pretty much became a middle man in the sense that there had to be a way for people to be heard and for any form of injustice to be justified. One of the first cases of judicial review was Marbury v. Madison (1801) it was the first significant decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court which declared an act of Congress unconstitutional and then again in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) which outlawed slavery.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me that the judicial branch is the most powerful branch because they have the ability to change the constitution. Their rulings on issues like civil rights, woman’s rights and abortion have changed the direction of the country and expanded on the ideas of the founding fathers. It could be because of this power - this branch does not appear to rule on matters addressed by the other branches unless necessary. Perhaps as more people become intolerant of the limitations placed on them in the eyes of the law; more and more cases would be heard and another milestone would be achieved. Civil Rights didn’t become law just because.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole. Even though A. Hamilton thought of judicial branch as the "weakest", over the years, in my opinion, it became the most powerful one.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the idea is not to change laws spelled out in the Counstitution. But, obvioulsy, justices interpret laws in their own way , now more liberal than in the past century, creating new case law that will change the Constitution even more.
By nominating Suptreme Court Justices, the President is actually the one that can change the picture of the court in the course of the years. Up until this point, justices were split in their decisions 5-4 on major issues and Justice Kennedy always breaks the tie(which makes him one the most important justices right now). Now with President Obama's present and future nominees(he might have to nominate 2 more), i think, the Supreme Court will be overwhelmingly liberal, therefore, will carry out most of the case law in that direction.
Who knows what will be considered "constitutional" 20 years from now? That's why , i think Judicial branch is the most important of all three.