Taking A Stand: Supreme Court is not accountable
There is tyranny in America but it is of our own doing as our country has allowed one branch of government to have unchecked power.
If you want to look at it in literal terms, the judicial branch of government has formed an oligarchy, it’s nine-member panel ruling America as it sees fit, reading passages into the Constitution that would make its framers turn over in their graves.
Hey, the Supreme Court told you who your president would be. The court has made it legal to have an abortion. They’ve outlawed school prayer and they’re about to remove any mention of God from the public sector. They’ve made blanket determinations about the law despite having no support either by the Constitution nor the laws of the land, using their positions to issue edicts like rulers in some kind of medieval fiefdom, telling the dumb villagers how they should live.
And what do we do? The same country that prides itself on liberty? We take it. We say it’s part of our wonderful system, resting our blind trust in the hands of nine persons who haven’t lived in the real world in years.
Folks, this isn’t the way it was supposed to be. The framers of our form of government set things up so each branch would check the others. However, somehow, someone forgot the old adage that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” as the judiciary is free to do anything it wants without fear of retribution.
Look at it, these folks are appointed for life terms. What other job do you get appointed for a life term? That, in itself is ridiculous. What happens if you get a nut or two on the Supreme Court, which I believe we already have? You’re stuck with them until their senile carcass dies from old age. Had there been foresight, they would have been appointed to terms, preferably eight-year terms. I know the life thing is to keep them from being unduly influenced from the outside, but the same could be done by having them serve a specified period.
Come on, since they’re making up law as they go along, they need to at least be up with the times. A Justice who has been cooped up behind the doors of the court for 20 years has not the slightest idea what the people of this country want and need. And yes, they do make up the law. Think about it. There’s no provision about abortion in the Constitution, yet they decided it was legal. They do this every day, deciding what they believe to be is in the spirit of the Constitution.
I’ve long said if we just had to have one branch stronger than the other it should be the legislative branch since they are more in tune with the people. After all, they have to be because if our representatives don’t represent us well and do what we say, we can fire them every two years or every six years for senators.
What needs to happen is that the judiciary needs to be put in check, as the framers of our government intended it to be. This can start on the federal judgeship level where district judges are using their positions to further their ideological agendas. Let’s use the Constitutional power of impeachment to kick these bums to the curb. Maybe then, other federal judges including the Supreme Court, will understand America will not stand for being morally offended by its judicial system. We need political platforms which stress judicial accountability and legislators who are not afraid to use the power of impeachment for out of control judges.
Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].