preview

The Decision Of The Court Essay

Better Essays

Dear. Ms Stewart, it is in the best interest of the country, and the Constitution that I urge you to not allow for a set of specific guidelines to be put in place to tell the Justices of the Court, how to interpret the Constitution. With the decision of Marbury v. Madison in 1803 the Court established its power of Judicial review(Judicial Learning Center, Web insert hyperlink), and it is up to the Justices to decide when and how the Constitution will be interpreted. This memo will address the following issues with creating guidelines for Justices in the Supreme Court The first problem with the idea of the set of guidelines on how to interpret the constitution is the fact that it undermines the relationship between the Constitution and the Court. Chief Justice Hughes once said the job of the court is to maintain “a "living Constitution" whose broad provisions are continually applied to complicated new situations”(U.S Supreme Court Hughes). This means that the Court uses the Constitution as a way to interpret new laws, and cases that are appealed all the way up to the court. Nevertheless, it must be noted that Chief Justice states that the Court must maintain a “living Constitution”. This word choice is intentional and deliberate. Unlike a typical Constitution that only has the merit of what is explicitly stated on the document, a living constitution is a document changes over time, and adapts to new circumstances, without being formally amended(Strauss, 2010, Web).

Get Access