Friday, August 27, 2010

Restore Check and Balance to the Supreme Court

The check on the Supreme Court of the United States was supposed to be the congressional power to impeach and remove from office, but the one time a justice was almost impeached, for good cause, the effort failed and hasn't been tried again, giving the justices a feeling of invulnerability and freedom.

I have heard two good ideas in the last few weeks for a constitutional amendment to provide another check on the Supreme Court, one less severe and permanent than impeachment and removal from office, which makes it the nuclear option and historically unlikely to be of practical use.

The one I think I like the best would restore the states to a position of superiority by allowing a majority of the Attorneys General of the states vote to overturn any Supreme Court decision.

The other option would be to empower the Congress to overturn any Supreme Court decision with a 2/3 majority vote in both the House and the Senate.

Either way, it would take the current ultimate authority without recourse out of the hands of the 9 unelected and unaccountable to the people.