Against Judicial Supremacy: The Founders and the Limits on the Courts

Americans are inclined to have a very exalted conception of the judiciary’s role in our nation’s political life. Most of us think that the first task of the courts is to act as a check on the other branches of the federal government. This understanding tends to identify the federal courts with their power of judicial review, i.e., their authority to declare void acts of the other branches that are contrary to the Constitution. Today, if one asks an ordinary citizen what is the job of the nation’s courts, he or she is likely to answer with something along these lines.

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