A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
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Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#2There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story).
Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line.
That might seem like a fine way to handle things ... if the court is discovering constitutional rights that are in line with your views.
But this workaround puts a LOT of power into the hands of the nine justices who control the judicial branch. Amending the constitution was purposefully designed to be harder to do than passing normal legislation, which requires a majority of Congress plus the president's signature. But in many pivotal cases over the past five decades, just five justices decided the outcome.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#3There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story). Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line. That might seem like a fine way to handle things ...…
Discover hidden rights is quite the euphemism for legislating from the bench. But credit is due for the correct answer, which is returning the balance back to the legislative branch.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#4Catch-22:
After he got the amendment ratified, there's a strong argument that the paper probably should have been given a higher grade. But had he been given that higher grade in the first place, he probably wouldn't have gone through the effort to ratify the amendment.
You could argue that the paper did deserve the initial C grade, because that's what it took to get him angry enough to go and get the amendment ratified.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#5There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story). Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line. That might seem like a fine way to handle things ...…
Discover hidden rights is quite the euphemism for legislating from the bench. But credit is due for the correct answer, which is returning the balance back to the legislative branch.
Is the 14th Amendment really written in such a way that you can justify just about anything with it? I swear most SCOTUS landmark cases end up being about the 14th. Especially those considered “legislating from the bench”.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#6There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story). Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line. That might seem like a fine way to handle things ...…
The Supreme Court has been making shit up since 1857 at the latest. They are likely to continue to make shit up for several years after the Union dissolves.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#7There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story). Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line. That might seem like a fine way to handle things ...…
The Supreme Court has been making shit up since 1857 at the latest. They are likely to continue to make shit up for several years after the Union dissolves.
Similar to how the Roman Senate existed for more than a century after the fall of Rome.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#8There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story). Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line. That might seem like a fine way to handle things ...…
The Supreme Court has been making shit up since 1857 at the latest. They are likely to continue to make shit up for several years after the Union dissolves.
1803 at least. They made up their own right to strike down laws (Marbury v. Madison).
Admittedly, I'm not sure what a supreme court does if they can't do that, but it's kinda funny that they bootstrapped it themselves.
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Supreme Court has been making shit up since 1857 at the latest. They are likely to continue to make shit up for several years after the Union dissolves.
1803 at least. They made up their own right to strike down laws (Marbury v. Madison). Admittedly, I'm not sure what a supreme court does if they can't do that, but it's kinda funny that they bootstrapped it themselves.
in which the supreme court said that the constitution says that the supreme court can say what the constitution says.
and everyone went along with it!
Re: A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)
#10There have been only two amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 50+ years (one of which is the subject of this story). Why? Partly because the Supreme Court has been very willing to discover hidden rights within the existing amendments, decreasing the need for states to go through the very arduous process of getting a new amendment over the finish line. That might seem like a fine way to handle things ...…
The Supreme Court has been making shit up since 1857 at the latest. They are likely to continue to make shit up for several years after the Union dissolves.
Marbury v Madison created one of the most far reaching powers of the Supreme Court - judicial review - and that was decided in 1803. Judicial review is certainly nowhere in the Constitution, and in fact the Marbury v Madison decision was so crafty that it was done in such a way to grant the enormous power of judicial review to the courts while giving the executive branch nominally what it wanted at the time.