Brutus XV: The Judicial System

Brutus XV discusses the judicial system. Brutus does not agree with the proposed judicial system that would exist under the Constitution because he thinks the judges would have far too much power. They would have the ability to interpret and explain the constitution, and there would be no power above the judges to correct their mistakes. The decisions of the court would be “final and irreversible.” He also argues that the Supreme Court would be too independent from the legislature. If the judges wanted to, they could declare void any law made by the legislature. Brutus argues that judges in England would never be given this much power - their decisions are subject to correction by the House of Lords. Brutus has nothing against the idea …show more content…
First of all, judges have to be appointed by the President and then approved by a majority of the senate. This negates Brutus’s fear of incompetent judges, because most (if not all) of the judges appointed to the Supreme Court will be capable of doing the job. Secondly, the Supreme Court only has original jurisdiction on cases involving ambassadors, public ministers, and states. They have a lot of influence, but their power is not as unlimited as Brutus envisioned it would be. Even after a Supreme Court decision has been made, it can be overturned by future judges or by a constitutional amendment. As for Brutus’s concern that the federal court would make state governments unnecessary, this hasn't happened. Of course Brutus had no way of knowing the future, but now we see that even under a large and powerful federal government, state and local governments are still needed to maintain order. They aren't as strong as they were in the early years of the United States, but the Supreme Court has not eradicated them completely. Brutus had very little historical or Constitutional foundation to his fears, which is why I disagree with him on the matter of the Supreme