As a non american, its competely fucked that your politicians appoint supreme court judges (for lifetime). The supreme court should be its own apolitical entity, or there is really no point, you could just have a cabinet of politicians make the decisions.
In theory and in some historical instances, it has been argued that the SCOTUS actually holds no real authority. Article 3 of the Constitution is remarkably short, and provides limited detail about the scope of judicial power (which these originalists conveniently forget). Anyway, what I mean to say is that the Constitution does not, in any way, give the courts any power of enforcement. Instead, this is left up to the executive branch. A president is responsible for enforcing the law, and could simply refuse to follow their rulings.
Historically, presidents have sometimes told the court to essentially get fucked. During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended the right to Habeas Corpus and arrested confederate sympathizers in the North. The Tawney court ruled it was an overreach of executive authority and therefore unconstitutional. Did Lincoln respect the ruling? No. He continued to have people arrested without being informed of charges.
Fast forward to today, where the court has now ruled that the POTUS has immunity for official acts, this really opens the door for the president to do as they please, and only follow rulings they may agree with. This would invoke a constitutional crisis and impeachment would be the resolution. However, if the POTUS was ignoring rulings that were unpopular in the eyes of the public, the public may side with the president over the courts, especially if they believed POTUS was doing the right thing. At this point, there may be little recourse to prevent dictatorship, as congress is unlikely to remove a president who is popular with the people.
As Frank Herbert said in Dune, laws are only ever as good as the people who are willing to enforce them.
BlueEyedPumpkinHead on July 4th, 2024 at 02:59 UTC »
Life time appointments breed corruption. 12 year terms with the ability to be reappointed for another 12.
bahaggafagga on July 4th, 2024 at 05:48 UTC »
As a non american, its competely fucked that your politicians appoint supreme court judges (for lifetime). The supreme court should be its own apolitical entity, or there is really no point, you could just have a cabinet of politicians make the decisions.
TerranOrDie on July 4th, 2024 at 05:56 UTC »
In theory and in some historical instances, it has been argued that the SCOTUS actually holds no real authority. Article 3 of the Constitution is remarkably short, and provides limited detail about the scope of judicial power (which these originalists conveniently forget). Anyway, what I mean to say is that the Constitution does not, in any way, give the courts any power of enforcement. Instead, this is left up to the executive branch. A president is responsible for enforcing the law, and could simply refuse to follow their rulings.
Historically, presidents have sometimes told the court to essentially get fucked. During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended the right to Habeas Corpus and arrested confederate sympathizers in the North. The Tawney court ruled it was an overreach of executive authority and therefore unconstitutional. Did Lincoln respect the ruling? No. He continued to have people arrested without being informed of charges.
Fast forward to today, where the court has now ruled that the POTUS has immunity for official acts, this really opens the door for the president to do as they please, and only follow rulings they may agree with. This would invoke a constitutional crisis and impeachment would be the resolution. However, if the POTUS was ignoring rulings that were unpopular in the eyes of the public, the public may side with the president over the courts, especially if they believed POTUS was doing the right thing. At this point, there may be little recourse to prevent dictatorship, as congress is unlikely to remove a president who is popular with the people.
As Frank Herbert said in Dune, laws are only ever as good as the people who are willing to enforce them.