Title: New SCOTUS vacancy shines a light on the overarching power of the judiciary

Original CoS Document (slug): new-scotus-vacancy-shines-a-light-on-the-overarching-power-of-the-judiciary

Created: 2020-09-21 15:41:27

Updated: 2020-09-29 03:00:00

Published: 2020-09-22 00:00:00

Converted: 2025-03-29T14:47:31.075940968

With the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the upcoming battle regarding the appointment of a new justice to the Supreme Court looks to pour gasoline on the already blistering fire of the 2020 election.

Whomever gets chosen to replace Justice Ginsburg will surely face a brutal confirmation process, as both parties look to appoint a justice who will interpret the Constitution as they see fit.

Former Justice Antonin Scalia often described the modern confirmation process as a “mini-plebiscite on the meaning of the Constitution,” whenever a new justice is to be appointed.

But the intense emphasis on judicial appointments–particularly Supreme Court justices–reveals a massive problem with the current political structure of American government.

The Founding Fathers placed a heavy importance on America having an independent judiciary, where judges were to be adverse to the petty political squabbles of the legislative and executive branches.

The power of these judges and justices was also intended to be weaker than the other branches, as laid out by Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

In The Federalist Papers No. 78, Hamilton stated:

Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.

However, Hamilton's vision is simply not the case today.

Through the years, the federal judiciary has amassed an improbable amount of power in which judges and justices legislate from the bench through judicial rulings.

Rather than elected representatives writing the laws, we now have nine unelected, lifetime appointees on the high court, twisting and manipulating legal text in order to enforce their desired outcome.

This drastic change in governmental roles is what has led to the massive pollicization of judicial appointments in modern America.

As seen with the confirmation process of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, these hearings have become mud-slinging battlefields where politicians try to score political points and destroy the lives of anyone who stands in the way of their agenda.

This childish nonsense has made a mockery of a once-serious process, and has further promoted the Supreme Court as a highly-politicized body.

The only way to fix the broken state of the courts today is through an Article V Convention of States. Calling a convention will allow We the People to enact term limits on members of Congress and federal justices and judges.

It will also provide the American people with an opportunity to pass an amendment to limit the power and influence of the federal government, including Supreme Court rulings.

The only way to restore our constitutional norms is to return to the frame of the Constitution itself and follow the principles and guidance our Founding Fathers.

Without a Convention of States, the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary will continue to run roughshod over the very document they swore to uphold and protect.

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