Should the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review be strictly limited by a constitutional amendment?
The Supreme Court power of review should be limited. This should take place through a constitutional amendment. Judicial review is the power vested to the courts to review a statute, treaty or the constitution itself. Judicial review acts as a check and balance whereby the court reviews the government (Gallup Inc 2012). The definition of judicial review differs from one country to another. The procedures for judicial review, therefore, vary from one country to another. The Supreme Court reviews administrative acts and secondary legislation. Supreme Court judges have undemocratic power to review sectors of public administration (Breyer 2011). This ensures that officials from the public sectors follow the law to the letter. In the United States, federal courts have the power to review acts of Congress and state them to be invalid if they do not follow the constitution.
These powers vested in the supreme courts should be limited. This is because some judges take these powers for granted. Another reason for this is that these powers are subject to misuse. There are several cases whereby Supreme Court judges have abused this power vested on them by the constitution (Gallup Inc 2012). The decrease of people’s approval of how the Supreme Court does the job should be an indication of a need to limit the powers. By limiting these powers, cases of abuse will decrease. These judges also need reviewing. By giving them all these powers by the constitution, they may cross the line and misuse the powers for their selfish desires (Breyer 2011). The Congress need to enact the constitution to ensure that judicial review power by Supreme Court judges gets limits. By limiting the power of judicial review, this will ensure that Supreme Court judges do not abuse the power by acts of corruption or mischief.
References
Breyer, S. (2011). No small wonder. Wilson Quarterly, 35(3), 60-61.
Gallup Inc. (2012). Supreme Court. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/4732/Supreme-Court.aspx
