Ch 8 Judicial Branch - The Federal Courts
Inside the Supreme Court
The Politicization of the Judicial Branch
Senator Ben Sasse is speaking at a Senate confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September of 2018.
In this video, Senator Ben Sasse discusses:
(1) the legislative branch's abdication of its lawmaking responsibilities to unelected bureaucratic agencies
(2) the politicization of the Supreme Court, which has become a substitute political battleground for the impotent legislative branch
(3) & the critical need to restore the balance of power required by our Constitutional system!
and...
(4) he demonstrates how to treat people across the aisle. He opens his comments by speaking respectfully to a political rival, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
In this video, Senator Ben Sasse discusses:
(1) the legislative branch's abdication of its lawmaking responsibilities to unelected bureaucratic agencies
(2) the politicization of the Supreme Court, which has become a substitute political battleground for the impotent legislative branch
(3) & the critical need to restore the balance of power required by our Constitutional system!
and...
(4) he demonstrates how to treat people across the aisle. He opens his comments by speaking respectfully to a political rival, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
"...the Supreme Court is consistently a substitute political battleground in America..."
Major points:
"(1) In our system, the legislative branch is supposed to be the center of our politics.
(2) It's not. It's not because for the last century - and increasing by the decade right now - more and more legislative authority is delegated to the executive branch every year.... The legislature is impotent, the legislature is weak, and most people here want their jobs more than they really want to do legislative work. And so they punt most of the work to the next branch. [to the bureaucratic agencies of the executive branch]
(3) This transfer of power means that people yearn for a place where politics can actually be done. And when we [legislators in Congress] don't do a lot of big actual political debating here, we transfer it to the Supreme Court. And that's why the Supreme Court is consistently a substitute political battleground in America...
(4) We badly need to restore the proper duties and the balance of power from our constitutional system."
"(1) In our system, the legislative branch is supposed to be the center of our politics.
(2) It's not. It's not because for the last century - and increasing by the decade right now - more and more legislative authority is delegated to the executive branch every year.... The legislature is impotent, the legislature is weak, and most people here want their jobs more than they really want to do legislative work. And so they punt most of the work to the next branch. [to the bureaucratic agencies of the executive branch]
(3) This transfer of power means that people yearn for a place where politics can actually be done. And when we [legislators in Congress] don't do a lot of big actual political debating here, we transfer it to the Supreme Court. And that's why the Supreme Court is consistently a substitute political battleground in America...
(4) We badly need to restore the proper duties and the balance of power from our constitutional system."
Supreme Court 2023
Front row, left to right — Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and Elena Kagan.
Back row — Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Back row — Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Supreme Court 2021
The Supreme Court as composed 2021.
Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Back row: Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Back row: Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Inside the Supreme Court
