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You're underestimating how much power Congress legitimately has over the rest of the government, when they choose to exercise it. All money spent by the federa
by jkaplowitz 6y ago
You're underestimating how much power Congress legitimately has over the rest of the government, when they choose to exercise it.
All money spent by the federal government in all three branches, including on judicial clerk compensation salaries, is determined by Congressional authorization and congressional statutes regarding employment and compensation. Congressional statute law heavily regulates hiring throughout the executive branch, despite that being a separate branch of government from Congress. There's no reason the judiciary is any different.
What's more, while the procedural rules of the federal courts are mostly set by the federal courts themselves, this is done under the authority of an act of Congress, which has been amended several times both to increase and reduce the courts' self-regulatory authority. As for the Federal Rules of Evidence, Congress refused to allow the version of those which the Supreme Court originally approved to go into affect, and then they later passed a substantially altered version as an Act of Congress.
The Constitution itself makes explicit Congress's ability to regulate the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction (which applies to almost all of its docket) and even to reduce the scope of that jurisdiction. And it has pretty plenary power to add, remove, and restructure the inferior federal courts, aside from whatever tenure protections apply to individual judges who have not been impeached by the House and removed from office by the Senate.
And, as others have said, the Senate even individually approves federal judges as per its constitutional mandate under the appointments clause. This is certainly not a separation of powers violation.
- torstenvl 6y agoI'm not underestimating anything. You're outside your depth here. Congress can ordain and establish inferior courts, and can regulate the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. However, it cannot regulate much of the judiciary outside that. For one, it cannot expand the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction. Marbury. Nor can it dictate how the court applies the law. Klein. Congress's power over the federal judiciary is constrained and there is no basis in the text of the Constitution or in any case law to support your position.
- evgen 6y agoMarbury is nothing more than a power-grab by the judiciary that we have all decided to abide by, for the moment. The judiciary has no power whatsoever other than that which comes from its perceived legitimacy; legitimacy which has been heavily damaged over the past 20 years and which is dangling by a thread at the moment. There is really nothing stopping Congress from slapping back the Supremes other than convention, and I suspect that this is going to be ending soon -- Congress can cut the Supreme Court back to nothing but original jurisdiction and then create a new court for constitutional appeals to bypass them completely. Quoting case law won't help them and no matter what they may claim there is nothing nine politicians in black robes can do about it if the other two branches decide that this is how things are going to work going forward.
- torstenvl 6y agoNo, Congress cannot just create a shadow Supreme Court within our Constitutional framework. And if you're talking about disregarding the Constitution, then your point is meaningless.
- evgen 6y agoDisregarding what the Supreme Court says the Constitution says != disregarding the Constitution. Important distinction that will become more important in the future.
- jkaplowitz 6y agoThe Constitution doesn't directly say the Supreme Court has a power of judicial review that can overturn laws. It's just that the Supreme Court interprets it that way, and we currently go along with that. The person who proposed a separate top court for constitutional appeals (not me) was making more of a realpolitik point than a constitutional one. However, I think a variation of the idea would be constitutional: within the Supreme Court, Congress creates two divisions for purposes of appellate jurisdiction cases (they would stay unified for original jurisdiction cases to avoid a constitutional problem). Justices would be assigned to only one or the other, no overlap. One division handles constitutional appeals, one division handles other cases. Congress could also remove the appellate jurisdiction of the court to hear claims that laws are unconstitutional, leaving the only appellate jurisdiction as claims that officials are acting illegally or unconstitutionally or disputes of lower-level decisions as incorrect. I'm not saying this is necessary good policy, but it would be constitutional.