Power Delegated to the Court

I am pro-life. I have always been. I frankly admit it as I study the case before the Supreme Court, Dobbs v Jackson. The objective of this article is not to analyze this court case or even Roe v Wade. It is simply to look at the Constitutional compliance of our government.

Our Nation was founded on a firm principle that We the People are over the government, and that we have oversight responsibility over the government–Federal, State, and Local. To assist the people, governments were divided and subdivided into branches. On the federal level, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches were organized.

The government was given twenty powers. That’s it! They were also given the power to check on each other if one were to deviate from the path set by the Constitution. This division of power and the ability to check and balance among the branches of government were never instituted to replace the oversight of We the People. It is for this reason that James Madison refers to this power or setup as an Auxiliary Precaution.

During the first year of Thomas Jefferson’s administration, an egregious Supreme Court usurpation took place, the decision rendered in the Marbury v Madison case. Here, the Supreme Court assumed the power to interpret the Constitution, thus owning it. Furthermore, they conjured up the principle of Stare Decisis. This is the legal principle of relying on precedents. That is, they also assumed the power of making laws.

The Constitution never gave them those powers. The Supreme Court does not have the final say on the meaning of the Constitution. ALL Legislative power rests with the Congress (US Constitution Article 1, Section 1). That was the very first message in the Constitution.

With the Supreme Court usurpation and the People becoming complacent, the oversight of government was taken up by the Court. Rather than the People saying that a certain law is Unconstitutional, we simply rely on the courts to look after us. At times they do. Other times, they don’t.

The concept of Constitutional Law is supposed to mean what We the People would permit the government to do. The Federal government is delegated 20 powers. Nothing more! (US Constitution Article 1, Section 8).

Today, Constitutional Law is wrongly interpreted as the study of the dicta by the Supreme Court cases. Dicta are the opinion of the justices. Nowhere can we find this principle in the Constitution. But the justices issued a ruling, and the rest of the nation followed (supposedly).

I am quite aware that the judicial model is far from what was passed down to us through the Constitution. So, what are our recourses? Thomas Jefferson foresaw our situation. While it is acceptable to have new arguments before the Supreme Court, a better way would be to strengthen our State, as well as to assume the role that We the People should take.

These, perhaps, will be a discussion for next time.

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