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SCOTUS Should Have “Neither FORCE nor Will”
Upset with the Supreme Court? Maybe we should revisit Alexander Hamilton’s vision for the judiciary
Social activists and politically minded Americans love the Supreme Court when their side has the majority. And they deeply resent it when the other side has the majority.
But the fact that we’re talking about “sides” when it comes to the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), tells you how far we’ve drifted (in some cases, raced) away from the founding principles that formed our republic.
When that first generation of United States citizens was considering the newly proposed Constitution of the United States to replace the ineffectual Articles of Confederation, Alexander Hamilton was part of a group of three Founders who put pen to paper in an attempt to persuade skeptics and assure all of America that the Constitution was worthy of their support.
Their body of work came to be known as The Federalist or The Federalist Papers. This collection of essays and articles succeeded. And it helped shape the judiciary’s interpretations of the Constitution for decades to come.
That influence waned in the 20th century and especially now in the 21st century. For all intents and…
