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Related: About this forumThom Hartmann: Judicial review...A Constitutional crisis is brewing in America
It's time for Congress to require SCOTUS to conform to the Federal Code of Judicial Conduct.
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sabbat hunter
(6,825 posts)like Roe v Wade. Without which in many many states it would be illegal to have an abortion at all? or Brown v board of ed which basically ended segregation?
jjewell
(618 posts)but I have a question. What, in your opinion, is the Supreme Court supposed
to do if a case comes before them concerning a law, passed by Congress, and
signed by the President, that the Court majority finds to be clearly unconstitutional?
For instance, a law, passed by an extreme right-wing Congress, and signed by an extreme
right-wing President, declaring that African-Americans were no longer citizens of the United States,
clearly in violation of the 14th Amendment?
Without the power of judicial review, are you saying that the Supreme Court could declare such a law
unconstitutional, but be powerless to strike down said law?
thomhartmann
(3,978 posts)Like in Canada or Switzerland, SCOTUS could have opinions - and should, and should offer them - but legislation is the province of the legislature, checked by the veto power of the executive - and determining guilt or innocence under the law is the province of the judiciary.
If you don't believe that the people will make errors and then learn from and correct those errors - and therefore we need 9 kings/queens in black robes to protect us from ourselves - then you're simply making the historic argument for monarchy that held Europe for a millennium and against which we rebelled in 1776.
Thom