The Power Of The Judiciary
When the founding fathers of our country, and by that I mean the
Federalists, were creating the system of government for America, they knew that
a separation of power would be necessary to protect the American people from the
evils of a monarchy or dictatorship. In doing this, they created the three
branches of government; Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary. The plan was to
have the Legislative make the laws, Executive enforce the laws, and the
Judiciary interpret the laws, and it was Madison's system of "Checks and
Balances" that would keep the three in check. No one branch would be able to
exploit it's power without the scrutiny of one of the other branches, it seemed
to be the ...
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watching over the Legislative,
and the Legislative watching over the Executive. To be more specific it would
be Congress watching over the President and the President watching over Congress.
(The Federalist Papers, #51)
This system, as I mentioned earlier seemed to be the perfect protection
against tyranny of any kind, and in fact it is quite effective, but I feel the
problem is in that the Federalists didn't take into account that the Judiciary
would in fact become a policy making branch in itself, with the power to check
any one of the other two branches just as much as they would check each other.
Robert Dahl wrote, "To consider the Supreme Court of the United States strictly
as a legal institution is to underestimate its significance in the America
political system. For it is also a political institution, an institution, that
is to say, for arriving at decisions on controversial questions of national
policy." (Dahl, Role of the Supreme Court Symposium, pg.279) The point ...
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would render decisions based on the laws drafted into the Constitutions,
and it would be asked to interpret them to the best of their ability. Because
of this expectation to "interpret", the Supreme Court has been allowed to
develop the power to change policy in America. The reason for this can be
explained by a great many examples, the biggest perhaps being the case of Roe v.
Wade where the issue of abortion took the forefront of the American judiciary
system. In this case, to ask the Supreme Court to interpret the law as best
described by the Constitution would be useless because the Constitution states
nothing on the matter of abortion. So what is the Supreme Court supposed ...
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The Power Of The Judiciary. (2008, October 11). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Power-Of-The-Judiciary/91281
"The Power Of The Judiciary." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 11 Oct. 2008. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Power-Of-The-Judiciary/91281>
"The Power Of The Judiciary." Essayworld.com. October 11, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Power-Of-The-Judiciary/91281.
"The Power Of The Judiciary." Essayworld.com. October 11, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Power-Of-The-Judiciary/91281.
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