The Supreme Court, the highest court in the American judicial system, is one of the three branches of the US national government. In 1803, a mechanism was put in place to ensure that governmental officials and governmental institutions would respect the limitations prescribed in the "Supreme Law of the Land". Hence, with the Marbury v. Madison case, John Marshall, the fourth chief justice established that the Supreme Court, in addition to the power of judicial review of legislation, has to determine the meaning of the Constitution in order to enforce its Supremacy. However nowhere in the Constitution could reference be found to an institution which should resolve conflicts between the Constitution and the ordinary law when they occur! The Framers of the Constitution wanted to establish a Supreme Court that would be powerful enough to protect the rights of the people against the tyranny of the government but, as Hamilton argued, the Court would be the weakest of the three branches of government. Alexis de Tocqueville however, in ?Democracy in America' already noticed that in the US, political and social issues are often translated into legal questions to be decided by the courts (Barnum, 1994). Hence, the Supreme Court was granted with the power to interpret the Constitution and has become increasingly powerful over the years. Nowadays it is a truly co-equal branch of the American government and enjoys a worldwide reputation for independence and activism which can even decide the outcome of a presidential election. As a consequence we can legitimately wonder if the Supreme Court is a major political actor in the American democracy.
[...] As a consequence we legitimately can wonder if the Supreme Court is a major political actor in the American democracy. First of all we have to analyze its relations with the other branches of the federal government before examining in which measure the American Supreme Court is a political actor. The weakest branch of the federal government Analyzing the links between the different branches of the government and the appointment process is the starting point for understanding the decisional process of the Supreme Court's Justices. [...]
[...] It is my (Rosen, 2005). A good example is Greff v. Georgia, the Court's 1976 decision which reestablished the constitutionality of capital punishment after the Furman vs. Georgia decision of 1972 (Singh 2003). When Justice Stewart concluded that the death penalty for murder didn't constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” he didn't refer to the Constitution but to various public opinion polls and states referenda (Barnum, 1994). In 1954, the Court decided is most famous decision of the twentieth century in Brown v. [...]
[...] Evaluate the Importance of the Supreme Court in the US Political System: In What Ways Is It a Political Actor? The Supreme Court, the highest court in the American judicial system, is one of the three branches of the US national government. In 1803, a mechanism was recurred to assure that governmental officials and governmental institutions would respect the limitations prescribed in the “Supreme Law of the Land”. Hence John Marshall, the fourth chief justice, established with the Marbury v. [...]
[...] A president who carefully selects ideologically compatible nominees can influence the outcome of the Supreme Court in a way that meet his ideological preferences long after he himself left office, but this is not invariably warranty. President Eisenhower a moderate Republican President, made five appointments in which chief Justice Earl Warren (in 1953) and William Brennan (in 1956) who both were key members of the liberal Warren Court in the early 1960's. Eisenhower after leaving office reported that he made two mistakes in his presidency: “they are both sitting on the Supreme Court” (Barnum, 1994). [...]
[...] Vitale and in 1963 in School district of Abington Township v. Schempp which ban the mandatory prayer in public school of the Americans approved the daily prayer in public school in 1962) or Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichmann (1990) who protects someone who burned the American Flag when 80% of the population thought it should be illegal (Barnum, 1994). Certainly the most controversial decision of the Supreme Court of twentieth century is Roe v. Wave (1973) legalizing abortion through the country. [...]
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