The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Judicial Branch

Improved Essays
Throughout the United States government 's history, one thing remains the same, the three branches of government are as important as each other in keeping the nation thriving. Each with their unique set of strengths and weaknesses, the Judicial Branch is one that comes to mind when thinking of having the most powerful strength, proving a system of checks and balances to the other government branches. The Judicial Branch is responsible for reviewing the constitutionality of the actions of the government, according to Fine & Levin-Waldman (2016). What this means is, when something is signed into law or actions are taken, the Supreme Court of the United States decides if it follows the rights and laws outlined in the US Constitution. According to …show more content…
To maintain the strength of the Judicial Branch having a strong system to provide checks and balances of the other branches of government, there should be a certain level of independence for the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch often has the last say in matters regarding judicial review, and because of this, they should be able to operate independently from the other two branches and serve as the final say in these matters. According to Padovano, Sgarra, & Fiorino, (2003), the judiciary is generally better positioned to check such unlawful behavior then voters, since he has access to much better information than they do. Voters that often want a bigger say in these rulings are not always the best options for keeping a strong checks and balances for the highest level of decision making that occurs in the judicial review process. A certain level of independence to the Judicial Branch can allow the certainty of a strong separation of powers and checks and balance system that cannot be controlled by the very parts of government it is trying to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The book is written to address particularly voters to awaken them up with regard to their powers to elect whoever they like to serve in the judicial systems of the Supreme Court (Sutherland & Dobson, 2005). The book exposes a series of admonishing statements to the public on the series of the on-going struggles with outsmarting judiciary. Sutherland writes to spew out his contempt on what he believes is the abuse of power by the Supreme court Judges and points out ways through which this trend can possibly be mitigated. Both the Supreme Court Judges and the Supreme Court nominees alike are deeply engrossed in corruptive deals which the writer seeks to…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Document 1 shows that the Articles of Confederation restrain the government from having a national court system, along with the power to enforce laws. The judicial branch helps the United States in many ways, as they interpret laws and rule on cases between states. The executive branch enforces the laws, which is important to keeping Americans safe. Even though there is a national court system and a branch that enforces laws, neither of them have complete power due to checks and balances. The system of checks and balances chart shows that the branches of government are crucial and effective.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Articles Of Confederation

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Supreme Court can check the Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional. The President then checks the powers of the Supreme Court because he or she appoints the members, and the people he or she appoints have to be approved by Congress. So in summary, not only did the Constitution set up each individual branch but it also created ways to keep one branch from becoming…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Judicial Branch is in charge of interpreting laws and the Constitution, this helps keep checks & balances, it stop Congress from passing bad laws, or just any law that they want to. Alexander Hamilton put it this way, the legislative branch writes the rules that we abide by, while the executive branch “holds the sword of the community” by enforcing the laws (Doc. B). All the judicial branch does is judge whether laws are constitutional, to avoid having a law that violates the Constitution, so it doesn’t pose any harm to the government. It helps keep balance between all the branches and to keep everything…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Most importantly; decide how to interpret the laws of the Constitution, all laws passed by Congress, orders by the Executive Branch and our nation’s rights, in addition to responsibilities in foreign policy. All of this power grants the one individual branch to oversee, moreover, be the “mother” to the children, the Legislative and Executive Branch. The Judicial Branch has the ability to control and regulate laws, foreign policy correspondingly, executive orders that are passed, causing them to “parent” or monitor what the other branches do. To make matters worse, stated in Article III, Section 1 the power of the judicial branch “shall be invested into one Supreme Court.” This means that all of the judicial power invests in the individual Supreme Court.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Within the Supreme Court there is the power of Judicial Review. Some people may think that the Supreme Court should not have the power of Judicial Review. The Supreme Court should keep the power of Judicial Review because, we need someone to enforce the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land, and neither Congress or the Executive Branch should acquire this power. The Judicial Branch is all about the Supreme Court…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The legislative branch often writes laws that will rob citizens of their constitutional rights. The supreme court is the referee, able to call foul if one of that law is unconstitutional. Every branch should have equal power and no other branches above…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The system of checks and balances of power in our political system is essential and judicial review is but one assurance that no single person or group can make a determination to override the Constitution. Members of the Supreme Court must police themselves from within through educated and powerful discussions. It is unlikely that a majority of the group would ever become despots, unchecked by the larger group. In all, there must be checks and balances in our system and the power of judicial review stands as a very critical aspect of this process, while maintaining the equitable balance of power between our branches of…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The judicial branch is the courts, supreme courts, courts of appeal, and the district court. The court can declare presidential acts unconstitutional. The court can declare laws unconstitutional. The legislative branch can approve presidential nominations, override a presidential veto, and impeach the president and remove him or her from office. All information provided was found in document C of the…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I disagree with Hamilton’s description of the judiciary being the “least dangerous” and “weakest” branch. Although the courts themselves may not have the reach that the executive and legislative branches do, it still has its own place of significance by influencing the course of American history. Through the system of checks and balances, the judiciary has the power to overrule state legislators, congress, and even the president, with the authority to strike down laws. The courts have displayed their power of reach several times in the form of judgments. Such as, when it struck down a law that would protect slavery in the Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, or when the courts thrust America into a time where segregation was to be an anomaly, with…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    This is one of the ways that the Judicial Branch checks the other branches. For instance if the congress and the president pass a law but it is believed to be unconstitutional it is sent to the Supreme Court for review where the Justices (9) will analyze the law and use interpretation of previous laws primarily the Constitution the Law of the land so to speak to decide whether the law is truly lawful under the United States…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Judicial Branch

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This branch has the duty of determining what every law means, how to incorporate them into real life circumstances, and also deciding if a certain law breaks the constitution. The judicial branch also can settle conflicts between states. This is the only branch that watches over the president and congress to make sure they are abiding by the constitution. Also, the Supreme…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lastly, the Judicial branch then evaluates the laws, and check if they are constitutional or unconstitutional. This process is called Checks and Balances, “The system of separate institutions sharing some powers… its purpose is to keep power divided among the three branches” (Turner,27). By this definition not one power is meant to be all powerful, although…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lastly, the judicial branch also reviews lower court decisions to also ensure they are meeting the intent of the Constitution (Kelly, 2015). Since the inception of the Constitution, there have been few instances where the system of separation of powers has been in question. The separation of powers allows each branch to work interdepended but also have overlapping powers between the other branches. These overlapping of powers allow the checks and balances to occur, so no one branch holds all the power and everything the country does is within the bounds of the U.S. Constitution.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Nicolas Winters Group #5 Paper 2 What powers do the Constitution give the Judicial Branch? A world without the Judicial Branch of government is a world without set rules. In 1787, the Constitution had created the Judicial Branch, under Article 2 Section 2, to deal with all of the new laws that could be set in place. The Judicial Branch also leads the Supreme Court, the highest court of law in the United States. The Judicial Branch of government receives powers backed up by the U.S. Constitution, has a very strict and complex system to become a supreme court judge, and the U.S. Supreme Court Justices should interpret the Constitution by how it was originally wrote.…

    • 1313 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays