Electing Federal Judges and Justices: Should the Supralegislators Be Accountable to the Voters
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Authors
Wilson, Dennis B.
Issue Date
2006
Volume
39
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Judicial decisions have always been a source of controversy, particularly when they conflict with the opinion of substantial portions of the body politic. Decisions in which federal courts declare laws to be unconstitutional are one source of controversy, since they involve an unelected branch of the federal government telling an elected branch (Congress or the President) or an elected institution (e.g., a state legislature or a city council) what it can or cannot do. Moreover, courts often rule in areas in which people have different and often intensely held opinions: abortion, religious expression, racial preferences, and the death penalty, to name but a few. The United States Supreme Court's, and lower federal courts' authority to declare state and federal laws unconstitutional has, however, become an accepted part of American jurisprudence' and of its political system. The authority to declare laws unconstitutional may be justified on grounds that courts striking down laws as contrary to the Constitution uphold the will of the "enduring majority" that adopted and ratified the Constitution against the will of the "transitory majority."...
Description
Citation
39 Creighton L. Rev. 695 (2005-2006)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law