Alexander Hamilton believed that the judicial branch is the least dangerous branch for several reasons. Perhaps Hamilton felt it is the least dangerous of the three branches of government because it does not make the laws as the legislative branch does; it simply interprets the laws that have been passed by the legislative branch and that have been approved by the executive branch. Also, there was little concern that the judiciary might be able to overpower the political branches; since Congress controlled the flow of money and the President the military, courts did not have nearly the same influence from a constitutional design standpoint. The effects of this is that the president and congress do have some control over the judiciary branch with their power to appoint and confirm appointments of judges and justice. Congress also may impeach judges which is very rare, alter the organization of the federal court system, and amend the Constitution. …show more content…
To protect the rights that the judiciary must be given the power of judicial review to declare as null and void laws that it deems unconstitutional. People of the Constitution claimed that judicial review gave the judiciary power superior to that of the legislative branch. Hamilton argues that both branches are inferior to the power of the people and that the judiciary's role is to ensure that the legislature remains a servant of the Constitution and the people who created it, not a master. Even though judicial review is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution.
The main purpose of a judicial branch per Hamilton is to "declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void", meaning to rule any laws or policies not in accordance with the Constitution, unconstitutional. He also states that they serve a purpose as an intermediate body between the people and the legislative branch, to check the legislature's
The ruling made by Chief Justice John Marshall in the1803 court case Marbury v. Madison was consider significance because it established the power of the judicial branch with the principle that the Supreme Court may declare an act of Congress void if it is considered inconsistent with the United States Constitution. This means that the court has the power to decide which laws are considered constitutional in what is referred to as judicial review. Judicial review in the courts, states that the judicial branch can review laws created by the legislative branch and establish if they are constitutional or not. The separation of power provided a type of check and balance to insure that no one branch in the government hold all the power and that
Only then will the judges be able to protect the constitution and the rights and privileges of the citizens, along with changing the minds of the framers who thought the judicial branch was weak. Hamilton emphasized that it was necessary for the judicial branch to take advantage of its power of checks and balances and make itself independent, however, still continue to work hand in hand with the
To balance out the judicial branch’s power, the legislative branch could change the size of the Supreme Court, commence amendments of the Constitution, and declare inferiority of courts to the Supreme Court. Correspondingly, the executive had much power balancing the other branches’ command, but this branch is famous for executing laws made by the Legislature. Regarding the Legislature, the executive branch had the ability to temporarily suspend appointments, outlaw power, and declare adjournment if, in any case, other houses cannot decide on adjournment. Concerning the Judiciary, the executive branch could employ judges, and this branch also had the power to pardon some crimes. Finally, the Judiciary was also able to hinder the abuse of power of the other two branches of government, and the branch also interpreted the law.
Had the court appointments been made temporary many people would have been discouraged to give up successful careers in law and politics. Adding good behavior as a requirement would ensure that the court would function as an independent body and protect people’s individual rights. Hamilton envisioned the court as the weakest of the three branches of government with few functions: the power to judge, and to relegate all actions upon which court decisions have been made to the authority of the president (Federalist No.
In the making of the constitution the constant aim was to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other. In other words, each branch shall have certain powers over the others to create a complete balanced government (Doc C). These checks would be key to the balance of the three powers, allowing no singular branch to have too much authority over another. For example while the legislative branch creates the laws, the executive must approve of them, and they do have the check (ability) to veto them if they so desire. Judicial review is also significant in the fact that the judiciary reviews certain actions made by both the executive and legislative branches (Doc C).
It is designed to be independent from the other branches of government, including the executive branch. This is because the framers of the Constitution believed that an independent judiciary was essential to protecting individual rights and upholding the rule of law. To ensure the independence of the judiciary, federal judges are appointed for life and can only be removed through the process of impeachment by Congress. The president has no power to remove federal judges from office. This helps to ensure that judges are free to make decisions based on the law and the Constitution, rather than political pressure or the whims of the executive branch.
Therefore, the concept of judicial review not only benefits the power of the legislature and the executive but also protects the interests of voters. It ensures that the elected leaders are the servants of the people they represent but not their masters. Without this concept, elected leaders will consider themselves masters of the people they
In 1787-1788 eighty-five essays appeared in the New York newspaper, they were supporting the federal constitution, Alexander Hamilton was one of the writers. Hamilton was responding to antifederalist who had claimed that absence of the Bill of Rights and a powerful Judiciary would bring oppression to the people. Hamilton argued that Judiciary was a weak branch of government compared to Executive and Legislature because it lacked an army to command and would only react to what the two branches of the government had proposed. I disagree with the statement by Alexander Hamilton that judiciary is the weakest branch of the government, maybe at that time it could have been viewed as so, but its power has increased through several amendments (Jellum, 2008). The Congress creates law, for example, they created the National Prohibition in the 1920s, and the president executes the laws by ensuring all the laws passed by the Congress are implemented.
The judicial branch, consisting of the U.S. courts, is mainly in charge of defining the state/national laws, how to apply them in situations, and regulates if laws are constitutional. Federal judges need to first be nominated by the president, then confirmed by the Senate in a (mostly) disputable process. The Senate wants to make sure all justice leaders approved are fit to rule constitutionally in society. The president is always looking for judges who share their same ideology, and will oversee judicial appointments very carefully because they are a way for him/her to affect public policy long after their presidency term.
Although a plethora of critics mention that the judicial branch is considered the weakest out of the three branches, none of the branches are truly weak. The judicial branch still plays a prevalent role in checking and balancing the other two branches. The purpose of judicial review is mainly to imply judicial supremacy in interpreting different various types of laws. In Federalist 78 by Alexander Hamilton, he decreed that judicial courts must “respect the right of the courts to pronounce legislative acts void, because contrary to the constitution, has arisen from an imagination that the doctrine would imply a superiority of the judiciary to the legislative power (Woll 359).” Judicial courts must have complete independence of the courts of justice and be able to deem Congressional laws as unconstitutional.
The Executive branch executes laws and is the president. The Judicial branch judges laws and is the Supreme Court. The Legislative branch creates laws and is the House of Representatives and Senate. James Madison said in Federalist Paper #47 Document B, “the accumulation of all powers...in the same hands...may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” This helps protect from tyranny because the Separation of Powers prevents all power from being in the same hands.
In addition, the executive branch was responsible for enforcing or vetoing laws passed by Congress (in addition to its other powers). As for the judiciary, it is responsible for interpreting federal laws and the constitution and for overseeing the decisions made by the federal and state courts. Before when it was unable to address economic and boundary disputes, the judiciary under the constitution was able to address a wide range conflicts. Above all, these three branches of government share equal power to prevent one form of government from becoming too
It interprets the law and decides if the laws are constitutional. The job of the judicial branch is to balance out the executive and legislative branches of government, so that no branch is more powerful than the others. Not having the judicial branch, would
Hana Kim Professor Yvonne Wollenberg Law and Politics 106 7 October 2015 Title In the United States government, there are three branches called the legislative, executive, and judicial branch. Out of these three, the judicial branch is the most powerful. The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court, the court with the most power in the country, and other federal courts that are lower in the system; the purpose of this branch is to look over laws and make sure they are constitutional and reasonable.
The judicial review was created so that the decisions of legislative and executive branch could be reviewed. This ensures that the decisions made are constitutional. It also makes sure that we as the United States citizens are being treated fairly when the decisions are made. I personally think that our country would really be in a mess if we didn't have the judicial review. There would be many people claiming things are not fair to them.