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Judicial Branch Essay

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Unlike the other two branches of government, the judicial branch does not have very well-defined powers under the Constitution. While the Constitution established a Supreme Court and gave it “original jurisdiction in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party” and appellate jurisdiction in all other cases, the Supreme Court was not viewed as an important body (US Const. art. III, sec. 2). Over time, however, the Supreme Court has evolved into a powerful government entity primarily through judicial review, the “power of a court to declare acts of governmental bodies contrary to the Constitution null and void” (Neubauer, 492). Although this power is what allows the judicial branch to remain influential, judicial review is not explicitly stated anywhere within the Constitution. The power of judicial review originated from the Supreme Court’s …show more content…

The Court is able to check both the legislative and executive branches by overturning laws or actions taken by either branch if the justices believe that the branch is not acting in accordance with the Constitution or if an act contradicts the words of the Constitution (“The Constitution,” 27). Although this could make the judicial branch appear superior to the other branches of government, Rosenberg’s arguments in The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? show that this is not the case, especially when it comes to social reform. With judicial review, the Supreme Court can freely make important and sometimes controversial decisions with its interpretations of the law. However, the decisions are almost meaningless unless one of the other branches takes action to implement the Court’s rulings, which serves as a check on the

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The United States of America between the time period of 1800-1835 were creating the first modern democracy. They had a separation of powers by creating a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Branch. The Legislative branch being the the Senate and House of Representatives, the Executive branch being the President and his advisors, and the Judiciary branch being the Supreme court. The Supreme Court informed and validated all the laws. In the end, the Supreme Court in many of their cases like Gibbons v. Ogden, McCulloch v. Maryland, Marbury v. Madison, and Cohens v Virginia made decisions that sought to assert federal power over state laws and the primacy of the judiciary in determining the meaning of the constitution.

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Alex Frost Values: Law & Society 9/23/2014 The Hollow Hope Introduction and Chapter 1 Gerald Rosenberg begins his book by posing the questions he will attempt to answer for the reader throughout the rest of the text: Under what conditions do courts produce political and social change? And how effective have the courts been in producing social change under such past decisions as Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education? He then works to define some of the principles and view points 'currently' held about the US Supreme court system.

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On the other hand, Marshall ruled the Judiciary Act of 1789 to be “an unconstitutional extension of judiciary power into the realm of the executive” (Marbury v. Madison, history.com). In spite of settling this dispute, ultimately, the Supreme Court elevated and contributed to its power by establishing its right to judicial review of laws made by Congress, that power not implicitly included in the Constitution beforehand (Marbury v. Madison, www.inspireeducators.com). All things considered, the Marbury v. Madison case granted the Supreme Court of the United States (S.C.O.T.U.S.) the power of judicial review, therefore allowing the Court to declare laws passed by Congress to be unconstitutional. This had and still has a tremendous and significant impact on the United States because if not for it, the laws passed could not be declined or conferred further about, or in other words, struck down and reviewed. Our judicial system would be limited.

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