I thought I would recommend this Adam J. White post. It provides a good warning to conservatives against falling into the trap of defending the idea of “judicial supremacy” in their critique of the president’s statement about a “group” of unelected people striking down a congressional law.
Mr. White refers to Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. I’m kinda surprised that this is the first reference I have read to this speech throughout this whole contretemps–begun by the careless remarks of our Con Law Prof in Chief.
April 6th, 2012 | 1:43 pm
I completely agree, John. There really needs to be a whole lot more clarity in separating out “judicial activism,” “judicial review,” and “judicial supremacy.” They’re all different; in our case, Obama’s retreat from his attack on “judicial activism” ended up ceding too much ground to the Judiciary, and the Attorney General Holder’s letter does sound like Judicial Supremacy in its correct acknowledgment of Judicial review.
It should be said though, even Justice Marshall almost sounds like a Judicial Supremacist when he’s at full height in Marbury v. Madison. These are complex issues, and I think we all (Conservatives and Liberals) would do well to use kid gloves in arguing about them. There is a particularly good article by Robby George on Judicial Supremacy and Judicial Review that I would recommend:
http://www.firstthings.com/print.php?type=article&year=2007&month=01&title_link=lincoln-on-judicial-despotism-16