Sunday, September 20, 2015

What would Hamilton likely say today about the judicial branch and its role in our government system?

If Alexander Hamilton viewed the modern judicial branch, I think that he would believe that what he articulated back then is being continued today.
Hamilton would see the modern judicial branch as similar to what he observed in the nation's earliest days.  He argued that the interpretative function of the judiciary made it predisposed to not harming the Constitution. In many respects, Hamilton saw it as the least powerful of the three branches:  

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.

Today's judicial branch, most notably in the form of the Supreme Court, is designed to not "annoy or injure" Constitutional ideas.  For example, when the Court announces its decisions, its majority and dissenting opinions are rooted in constitutional intent.  In this regard, Hamilton would believe that today's judicial branch is similar to what he envisioned. The separation of powers principle has been upheld to ensure that the judicial branch does not overstep its boundaries. It has not broken from its established tradition of examining the constitutionality of laws and actions.  In this way, I think that Hamilton would say that today's judicial branch resembles what he saw in his own mind regarding its power.
https://law.jrank.org/pages/6820/Federalist-Papers-Federalist-No-78-Power-Judiciary.html

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