Thursday, November 08, 2018

SCOTUS, History & Democracy


As a (Self-declared) "Avocational Historian" I know that the Founders of our Republic were in favor of England's parliamentary governance. Their primary, constitutional, problem was that the freemen of American were not allowed the (Still very limited) "Rights Of Englishmen".

I also know that they were the product of a system in which the Legislature had (Or was developing) towards near total control of government and The Law.

That, approved, Parliament, did give "The Law Lords" some authority. But, that power was limited to reviews of court decisions and did NOT extend to legislative acts.

It appears that the Founders established SCOTUS to take the place of the "law lords" in a nation which, very specially, rejected nobility.

In the first years of the new USA, SCOTUS was a "very dull place"with one Justice resigning for, perhaps, wont of work or mental stimulation.

Chief Justice Marshall's premeditated and engineered decision in Marbury Vs. Madison took power and authority away from the People who (Then indirectly) elected POTUS and the Senate and, more directly the Members of The House Of Representatives. That is, he took away the power to remove from office those officials who are judged by The People to be wrong in their actions and made a few Justices (And all Federal judges) immune from democracy  (Except by the very rare us of the impeachment, trial (Before the Senate) and removal-from-office as removed only eight federal justices in the 229 years of our nation).

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