The role of Supreme Court Justices under the Constitution

Justice Breyer and Justice Scalia appeared before the Judiciary Committee on October 5 to discuss the role of Supreme Court Justices under the Constitution. This is an exchange they had with Senator Lee.

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• supreme
• court
• justices

[MrPloppy1]

The final exchange with Scalia was awesome. Too often congressman make laws that they know is unconstitutional, but will say, "I don't know if this law is constitutional or not. It's not up to me to decide what might be unconstitutional. That's the Supreme Courts job." As if to say they are allowed to make any & every old buncha laws they wish, & throw them against the walls of the SCOTUS to see if any stick.

Scalia just crushed that way of thinking there at the end.

New respect for Scalia.

[bernlin2000]

@MrPloppy1 Yes, there are far too many attorneys in Congress for that to be a valid claim, anyhow.

[riddlemeshit]

I know Scalia was probably listening to Mike Lee thinking, 'this guy is an idiot, whoever voted for him, has to be even more of an idiot.'

[marley54fd]

Impeach scalia

[sheepdog1x]

It's about having the three branches that help counter act socialism, communism ,and total rule by one identity.

[bernlin2000]

He remains very much a firm believer in the supremacy of the executive, to be sure, but it really is strictly a matter of philosophy, because in the end how much power the president has is truly influenced by what the people are willing to allow (and disallow). Presidential power has grown dramatically since our country was founded, yet this hasn't stifled the other branches of government, so it simply shows how much larger our country is today, in many ways.

[writersblock26]

Thank you for posting this, senatormikelee.

[saturnined]

RUN WITH IT, MIKE! START PASSING LAWS THAT REPEAL LAWS, EOs, AND GET RID OF ABC AGENCIES. SCALIA'S PRETTY MUCH TOLD YOU THAT'S YOUR ONLY CHOICE. SMART! HE WON'T STAND IN AN ELECTED OFFICIALS WAY

[saturnined]

Alphabet soup agencies don't 'legislate' they regulate so that's how Congree and the President get around deligating their constitutional authority. So Scalia's saying don't come to me because there was no Doc. of Delegation of Constitu. Legislative Authority in the first place! Right! Its called Regulation, not Legislation.

Reminds me a lot of Greenspans 'Fed Speak'

[MrPloppy1]

@curtastic I don't think that is what he was saying. He was saying that the SCOTUS never strikes down any laws that they deem unconstitutional. They just say that that law may be ignored, without fear of prosecution, as if it never exsisted, and whether it remains on the books or not. They are after all not the legislature that they can create a new law that would repeal an old one.