During the Constitutional Convention, the founders nearly did not create a judiciary. After long debate, they decided to establish justice at the federal level, but the Judicial Branch was supposed to be the weakest of the three branches of government. The judges were not very happy about that after the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The judiciary continuously tried to expand the powers of the courts, and the U.S. Congress worked in kind to keep the judicial branch limited as originally intended. In fact, the 11th Amendment was proposed and ratified by Congress and States working together to further limit the powers of the judiciary.
One of the other attempts to tighten the reigns on the activist courts was The Judiciary Act of 1802: "An Act to amend the Judicial System of the United States".
When Newt Gingrich made his statement that as President he would have Congress investigate judges, and use the Federal Marshall to haul them in to face Congress, the liberal left went nuts. The thing is, Newt was right. The final word does not belong to the judges. The people, through Congress (and the States through the Senate before 1913), are able to be the check against the judges.
Remember, Congress has the power to impeach judges for bad behavior, and I would say that unconstitutional rulings would qualify as grounds for impeachment.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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