We can trace our knowledge of the Separation of Powers all the way back to “Schoolhouse Rock.” There are three co-equal branches of government, each with a different job to do. We can’t imagine Adam Liptak would have written this piece for the New York Times if it weren’t for the “rightward shift” of the court. SCOTUS also has been amassing vast power, and leftists have suggested the fix is for President Joe Biden to add a few seats so there are even more justices.
The Supreme Court’s rightward shift is only part of the story, legal scholars say. The court has also been accumulating vast power, insisting that it should have the last word — at the expense of every other part of the government. https://t.co/eEdbXZtuK6
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) December 19, 2022
The court does have vast power … it’s supposed to, being the highest court in the land and all. Liptak writes:
The conventional critique of the Supreme Court these days is that it has lurched to the right and is out of step with the public on many issues. That is true so far as it goes.
But a burst of recent legal scholarship makes a deeper point, saying the current court is distinctive in a different way: It has rapidly been accumulating power at the expense of every other part of the government.
The phenomenon was documented last month by Mark A. Lemley, a law professor at Stanford, in an article called “The Imperial Supreme Court” in The Harvard Law Review.
“The court has not been favoring one branch of government over another, or favoring states over the federal government, or the rights of people over governments,” Professor Lemley wrote. “Rather, it is withdrawing power from all of them at once.”
The court has not been favoring states over the federal government. Dobbs, part of the “lurch to the right” (which is obviously a bad thing), returned the power to decide abortion laws to state legislatures.
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"…insisting that it should have the last word…" Interesting to find out that the current court decided Marbury v. Madison.
— David Willford (@Dave_Willford) December 19, 2022
I’m sure the court will reverse Marbury v Madison any day now.
— Ross Allen (@rossallen3) December 19, 2022
please stop tweeting we’re all begging
— rey andresito (@flamesandwaves) December 19, 2022
I realize the "reporter" didn't write the tweet or the headline, but still… 🙄
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) December 19, 2022
“Adam Liptak covers the Supreme Court” and “practiced law for 14 years before joining The Times in 2002.” We’re guessing he never took a case as far as the Supreme Court.
That's the exact opposite of what happened with decisions like Dobbs. Row v Wade gave the court the power to restrict abortion laws. Dobbs threw that power out and let state legislatures decide it.
— Nick Brown (@nwbvt) December 19, 2022
It has always had the last word.
— Al’s Lacrosse (@lacrosse_al) December 19, 2022
Seriously?
This was what I was taught EXTREMELY uncritically in my very left wing law school 30 years ago. The few law profs who disagreed were cranks who couldn't get onto the campus of any Ivy League law school for a guided tour…
— Alec D. Rogers ⚾⚖️🍸 (@alecrogers1968) December 19, 2022
Isn’t the last word kind of the whole point
— SGA (@SGA_FLA) December 19, 2022
This is a joke, right?
— Best Life (@RealStarMan) December 19, 2022
Sooooo, checks and balances?
— Shane Wyke (@ShaneWyke) December 19, 2022
Funny, I don’t remember hearing you lot complaining when SCOTUS was knocking down stuff you didn’t like.
— À chacun son dégoût (@ChacunSonDegout) December 19, 2022
What's more dangerous, in my opinion, is the proliferation of Executive Orders and government agencies creating laws, circumventing (and arguably letting off the hook) the legislative branch- the people who are actually elected to make the laws.
— Crobb praying for grace (@crobb203) December 19, 2022
An excellent point. If anyone’s “withdrawing power,” it’s the Executive branch.
I know, who do they think they are, the Ultra Mega court?
— Sayance (@Sayance1) December 19, 2022
And it’s been exactly that way since forever.
— DimitriosKa (@dimitrios_ka) December 19, 2022
You're about 200 years late if you want to be alarmed by the concept of judicial review.
— Orange Juche (@OrangeJuche) December 19, 2022
Wasn’t a problem when Roe v Wade was decided, was it?
— Norm Peterson (@Leonid_ZMan) December 19, 2022
Again, no editor at the New York Times would have approved this piece without the element of the “rightward shift” to make that last word the wrong word.
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Related:
Science journal Nature says ultraconservative supermajority on Supreme Court is waging war on science https://t.co/TRqR5uyAZ5
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 15, 2022
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