Saturday, August 31, 2019
The Power of the Supreme Court
I find it very interesting that the true power of the supreme court does not really come from the constitution. As Mr. Stewart pointed out, no article in the constitution states that the court has the power of judicial review. The power of the court rests on the precedent set by John Marshall but is in no way indicated in the law. This is an interesting thing to note, because this is what makes the court relevant today, and even sometimes acts as a check on other branches. After doing some additional research I found a source about the supreme court that states that although the power of judicial review isn't explicitly stated in the constitution, it was heavily implied that the Framers wanted it to happen (https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/constitutional.aspx). However, then if it is so certain, why didn't the Framers just write it in? Did they think it was clear that the supreme US court would have to have judicial review? Or did they think that it would be better to not put it in, so that the court could be an adaptable institution, changing to fit the needs of the American people? Either way, we may never know why they didn't put it in the constitution or in an amendment, but most people will continue living their lives not knowing that the supreme court's power comes not from law but from a precedent set in early America.
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ReplyDeleteI think this relates to the topic of power that we discussed at the beginning of the semester. The question here is where does the SCOTUS get its power? It takes the power from the people and its fellow branches of government, as shown in Worcester v. Georgia (1832). The power the court holds only extends as far as the executive branch is willing to enforce it. Because of this, the court must balance on a thin line, where they take hold of as much power as possible- but not so much to make the executive branch mad at them. This line of thinking, I think, shows that the Supreme Court is an entity that takes power (from the rest of the government and the people), as opposed to creating power.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point. I think that the founding fathers wanted to uphold the flexibility of the Constitution. They didn't know how the Supreme Court's power would take form, and therefore allowed it to grow into something rather than explicitly write it out. Therefore, it was a "save for later" kind of thing, so while they were thinking about it, they probably just had more important things to put into the Constitution.
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