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On Big Problems: Expect More from States, Less from Supreme Court
Governing the Future of States and Localities ^ | November 21st 2021 | Clay S. Jenkinson

Posted on 01/01/2022 1:51:42 PM PST by Jacquerie

In today’s polarized political climate, Americans nervously anticipate U.S. Supreme Court rulings with the same fervor with which they enjoy sports, and with the same goal in mind: namely, to win. But American government is not a game, cautions United States Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton. By forcing the Supreme Court to make notably divisive, winner-take-all decisions, he argues, we run the risk of politicizing the “crown jewel of American government.”

No one at the American founding took the view that the U.S. Supreme Court should resolve the most difficult issues in American government or be the key change agent in society. Not only was that never the idea, but it also is not a sustainable idea.

Instead of resisting this trend, we Americans have come to embrace the court’s authority to resolve more and more questions that go to the core of representative government. In that sense, I suppose, we have gotten what we seem to want, empowering the court to make more decisions for us.

As a matter of outcomes, one could even argue that there is a certain fairness to all of this because the court tends to recognize rights of various political stripes and ultimately issues decisions that tend to favor the agendas of both political parties. But do we really want to have so much authority exercised by so few people?

Imprudent though the American people may be in the short term, they are not imprudent in the long term. Having come to appreciate the power of the court, they increasingly want a say in who its members are. The 2016 presidential election turned on a sufficient number of Americans treating a vote for the president of the United States as a proxy to fill one seat on a nine-member court.

(Excerpt) Read more at governing.com ...


TOPICS: Issues; State and Local
KEYWORDS: articlev; november2021; oldarticle; oldnews; scotus
Like every institution dominated by the Left, federal courts long ago wandered from their constitutional purposes and morphed into political bodies.

Yet, unlike Congress and the Presidency, and like the Administrative State, elections alone will never restore our rotten judiciary.

This column is worth the time to read.

1 posted on 01/01/2022 1:51:42 PM PST by Jacquerie
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To: Jacquerie

It’s a foolish premise. The Constitution was and is a political document. The SCOTUS’ judicial power extends to all laws, which by their very nature are political. In it’s history it has ALWAYS been a political body.


2 posted on 01/01/2022 2:15:10 PM PST by pacific_waters
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To: Jacquerie

Left wing run Supreme Court led by a corrupted weakling.


3 posted on 01/01/2022 2:15:46 PM PST by cp124 (Living under medical tyranny. )
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To: pacific_waters

Except they don’t follow the constitution, which makes them political.


4 posted on 01/01/2022 2:17:28 PM PST by cp124 (Living under medical tyranny. )
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To: Jacquerie

We need to minimize the role of those black-robed lawyers. The Constitution is a good place to start. Too bad Congress can’t do its job.


5 posted on 01/01/2022 2:23:13 PM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
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To: ComputerGuy

Thanks to the 17th Amendment, Congress is incapable of doing its Article III Section 2 “with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make” duty to limit Scotus.


6 posted on 01/01/2022 2:33:37 PM PST by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: Jacquerie

Anyone who wants long-lasting, deep-rooted change must look to the states first — an approach that requires effort and patience no doubt but an approach that is far more likely to last.


Concluding statement

An observation. At the demise of the Soviet Union, the power moved back to the satellite countries. No body wanted to put the centralized power back in place.


7 posted on 01/01/2022 2:41:21 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Jacquerie

We’ve given a bunch of unelected politicians in black dresses ultimate political authority. Don’t be surprised when they act like it. And also don’t expect them to give you the freedoms you won’t grab for yourself.


8 posted on 01/01/2022 2:45:32 PM PST by RKBA Democrat (Cultural separation and divorce. Not partisan politics.)
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To: Jacquerie
But do we really want to have so much authority exercised by so few people?

This OSHA BS is back in place because of two leftists. Two.

9 posted on 01/01/2022 3:00:35 PM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: pacific_waters
It’s a foolish premise. The Constitution was and is a political document. The SCOTUS’ judicial power extends to all laws, which by their very nature are political. In it’s history it has ALWAYS been a political body.

Every point is absolutely true.

10 posted on 01/01/2022 3:30:07 PM PST by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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