HOWARD PHILLIPS

One of the conundrums of our constitutional system is who has the last word as to what the Constitution means. Essentially it is the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. But there are those who believe that the current popular majority should have a say in what is or is not constitutional. If so the legislative branch should have the last word. Still others say that the President is the only person elected by ALL the people, so his opinion most reflects the will of the public. And then there are most who argue that the Constitutional system was created just to avoid the power of currently popular majorities, and the courts should decide based on the Constitution itself. So the statement has very little meaning except that Phillips thinks that the courts have too much power. Whoever gets to decide what is or is not Constitutional will be accused of being “over” the Constitution by those who don’t like the decisions. In our system, that is the courts.

This is an often suggested remedy for Congress. Currently it is argued that the Congressional districts are so large that there is no way that the candidates may reach the constituency without media, and media costs money. If the districts were small enough, those standing for Congress would not have to have or raise money and could communicate with the district without becoming beholden to others—-campaign donors. Therefore much of the corruption of current politics would be eliminated. The problem is that we would have a legislature of thousands of members and while each would have been better selected than the present method, there would be so many that the legislative body would become unwieldy if not impossible.

One of the conundrums of our constitutional system is who has the last word as to what the Constitution means. Essentially it is the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. But there are those who believe that the current popular majority should have a say in what is or is not constitutional. If so the legislative branch should have the last word. Still others say that the President is the only person elected by ALL the people, so his opinion most reflects the will of the public. And then there are most who argue that the Constitutional system was created just to avoid the power of currently popular majorities, and the courts should decide based on the Constitution itself. So the statement has very little meaning except that Phillips thinks that the courts have too much power. Whoever gets to decide what is or is not Constitutional will be accused of being “over” the Constitution by those who don’t like the decisions. In our system, that is the courts.

This is an often suggested remedy for Congress. Currently it is argued that the Congressional districts are so large that there is no way that the candidates may reach the constituency without media, and media costs money. If the districts were small enough, those standing for Congress would not have to have or raise money and could communicate with the district without becoming beholden to others—-campaign donors. Therefore much of the corruption of current politics would be eliminated. The problem is that we would have a legislature of thousands of members and while each would have been better selected than the present method, there would be so many that the legislative body would become unwieldy if not impossible.