I always thought the courts had a Constitutional authority to review and rule on any aspect of law that was brought before them. The authority, I thought, came from the Constitution itself, not Congress.
So it begs the question, why don't we see this done more often? We have political wussies in office for the most part, I guess. They can pass a popular law, and when a court overturns it, they can point to the judge and absolve themselves of responsibility.
I have honestly never heard of this limitation on the courts before.
I always thought the courts had a Constitutional authority to review and rule on any aspect of law that was brought before them. The authority, I thought, came from the Constitution itself, not Congress.
As I understand it, you are technically correct. However Congress can prevent the federal courts from ever allowing a lawsuit over their laws to be brought before the judges.
I don't have the specific place in the Constitution, though, without a bit of research again.
It has been used before, but not for a while. Using it now would meet much resistance from citizens, though.