Mike DeWine Quotes
Without question, the court does play a vital role in our constitutional system.
United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of John G. Roberts, Jr. to be Chief Justice of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005, p. 25.
This concept of balance of power and the equal role of the judiciary is actually quite rare. Even in Parliamentary democracies the parliament can override any court interpretation. In England, the upper legislative house, the House of Lords, actually serves as the nation’s highest or supreme court. And these “Law Lords” can override all regular judicial bodies.
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.
TR had a Supreme Court where a conservative block was in the majority and declared a number of his key reforms as unconstitutional. The same thing happened to FDR as well. Since Supreme Court justices had lifetime tenure most presidents and congresses have to deal with a court that has the political makeup and political philosophy of previous administrations by which they were appointed. Reform and change presidents tend to see the Supreme Court as obstructionist.
It is argued whether Scalia’s problem was that the Supreme Court was doing something new or radical or the country had changed. He had certainly lived through the greatest transformation of any society and culture on earth at a pace of change that far exceeds anything that has occurred before. Scalia is one who believes that the Constitution should not be interpreted in recognition of these changes, but should be immutable as it was written for the late 18th century. Most judges and legal scholars disagree and try to interpret the Constitution as the founders would have intended, knowing what we know, having the tools and powers we have, and facing the problems of the modern world. It represents a major legal and philosophical debate.
Richard Michael DeWine is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th governor of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeWine previously served as Ohio Attorney General from 2011 to 2019, United States Senator from 1995 to 2007, and Lieutenant Governor of Ohio under George Voinovich from 1991 until 1994.
