Judicial Review Pros And Cons

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Recommended: Judicial review and its importance

Judicial review in the United States had controversial origins because of the manner that it was established. However, it has become an important part of the system of government in our country. I believe it to be an important part of the balance between the different branches of government.
Since judges have served as arbitrators between conflicting people since the beginnings of society, the task of arbitrating between conflicting laws naturally fell to the courts as society became more advanced. This concept of arbitrating between laws is what came to be known as judicial review.
Judicial review is a concept where judges are asked to monitor or review governmental actions such as executive orders and laws passed by the legislature and there are multiple ways that judicial review can take effect. The first method of judicial review reviews the acts of governmental officials to determine whether they are acting under authority of law or exceeding the powers that have been granted to them by a statue. This method is used as a way to restrain officials acting outside of their prescribed limits. The second method of judicial review is policing the distribution of power between the states and the central government. This is used by …show more content…

In Federalist Paper No. 78, Hamilton says that in order for the Constitution to sufficiently protect the will of the people, the legislature has to be checked by the judiciary. He states that if it were up to Congress to decide the constitutionality of their own actions, it would lead to them substituting their will in place of the will of the people that elected them. He rationalizes giving this power of review to the judiciary by saying that it is the court’s duty to interpret the law, and that because the Constitution is the fundamental law of our country, the task of interpreting the Constitution should fall to the Supreme Court (Hamilton,

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