Essay On Judicial Review

The Supreme Court’s powers include many different things. They are the highest court within the judicial branch of the United States government. They are oftentimes the deciding factor when it comes to cases that derive from lower courts. Supreme Court justices are guaranteed a life long term and are appointed by the President (U.S. History). However, the Supreme Court has much more power than just listening to cases day by day. They are highly experienced individuals within their realm of expertise and they oftentimes find themselves checking to see if the executive and legislative branches of the United States government are abiding by the Constitution. Judicial Review is simply the act of the Supreme Court ensuring that the fundamentals of the United States Constitution are being upheld. This can be dated back to the case of Marbury versus Madison in 1803. William Marbury had been selected to serve as justice of the peace. Since the selection was made during the final hours of John Adams’ presidency, James Madison (Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state)
declined to deliver the commissions. The Chief Justice concluded that even though they were had the right for their commissions to be submitted, they were not allowed to write writs of mandamus for their defense because it violated the Constitution (History Staff). According to Documents of Freedom, James Madison had a theory called the “Madisonian Model”. Within this model described how one branch of the government cannot be completely separated. Not only does the Judicial Branch perform “check and balances” on the executive branch and the legislative branch, but all branches are under review by the other. The judicial branch ensures that laws are Constitutional. The legislative branch consists of individuals who, along with the President, assign members to the Court. Lastly, the president has the power to veto bills that come along his desk that Congress tries to pass. A famous case of judicial review was segregation among races in the early part of the twentieth century. A problem arose when the introduction of Jim Crow laws were announced. Jim Crow laws prevented Caucasian and African American citizens from being intermingled therefore causing segregation. The biggest issue was segregation among schools. Five separate incidents happened within the twentieth century and together they called them “Brown versus Board of Education”. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund led the fight for schools to be desegregated. The Supreme Court later ruled that segregation was unconstitutional and violated the fourteenth amendment (U.S. Courts). Although judicial review struck a good chord amongst individuals in the 1950s, it would cause some problems in the early 21st Century.
Separation of Church and State in the United States has been a touchy topic in recent history. With the phrase “Under God” being removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, it’s making some people wonder if the interference of lawmakers in the topic of religion is really necessary. According to Brendan Kelly of Opposing News, one lawyer from California is stating that the phrase, “In God We Trust” should be removed from all currency because it violates First Amendment rights (Kelly, 1). Judicial review has been an effective way of the judicial branch to make sure that the fundamentals of the Constitution are being upheld. No matter what the case is, there always needs to be some sort of checks and balances within the government to make sure that everybody is on the same
page.