Judicial DictatorshipRoutledge, 05/07/2017 - 160 páginas American society has undergone a revolution within a revolution. Until the 1960s, America was a liberal country in the traditional sense of legislative and executive checks and balances. Since then, the Supreme Court has taken on the role of the protector of individual rights against the will of the majority by creating, in a series of decisions, new rights for criminal defendants, atheists, homosexuals, illegal aliens, and others. Repeatedly, on a variety of cases, the Court has overturned the actions of local police or state laws under which local officials are acting. The result, according to Quirk and Birdwell, is freedom for the lawless and oppression for the law abiding. 'Judicial Dictatorship' challenges the status quo, arguing that in many respects the Supreme Court has assumed authority far beyond the original intent of the Founding Fathers. In order to avoid abuse of power, the three branches of the American government were designed to operate under a system of checks and balances. However, this balance has been upset. The Supreme Court has become the ultimate arbiter in the legal system through exercise of the doctrine of judicial review, which allows the court to invalidate any state or federal law it considers inconsistent with the constitution. Supporters of judicial review believe that there has to be a final arbiter of constitutional interpretation, and the Judiciary is the most suitable choice. Opponents, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln among them, believed that judicial review assumes the judicial branch is above the other branches, a result the Constitution did not intend. The democratic paradox is that the majority in America agreed to limit its own power. Jefferson believed that the will of the majority must always prevail. His faith in the common man led him to advocate a weak national government, one that derived its power from the people. Alexander Hamilton, often Jefferson's adversary, lacking such faith, feared "the amazing violence an |
Índice
Acknowledgements | |
Thomas Jeffersons Opinion of Judicial Review | |
The Rule of Five | |
Majority Rule | |
Jeffersons First Inaugural | |
The Tyranny of the Majority | |
The Earth Belongs to the LivingContinuing | |
The ResultA Society Designed by the Judiciary | |
Conclusion | |
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Palavras e frases frequentes
absolute action agree American angels authority basic Bill of Rights bind branches Calhoun citizens Civil common Congress consensus consent Constitution country’s Court’s Court’s power crime current majority debate debt decide decision declare democracy democratic despotism Dred Scott due process Dworkin earth belongs elected emphasis added equal executive exercise Federalists Founders Fourteenth Amendment freedom Hamilton homosexuals imposed independent individual interest interpret issue Jefferson believed Jefferson wrote Jefferson’s theory Jeffersonian John Marshall judicial review judiciary Justice Brennan Learned Hand legislative legislature liberty limited living majority rule majority’s Marshall’s means minority rights moral national power opinion oppressive original overrule parties people’s percent president principle Professor protection racial plans republican restrained Revolution Robert Nagel Roosevelt Senate separation of powers Sidney Hook social society Spencer Roane spirit Supreme Court taxes Theodore Roosevelt thought tyranny ultimate unconstitutional Virginia vote writes