The following excerpt was written by Convention of States supporter Ryan Walters and originally published on The Federalist.
Some conservatives now believe that, with Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the judicial branch may be brought into balance with the legislative and executive branches of government rather than dominate them. This is a false reassurance, and a dangerous one at that.
Even if Kavanaugh turns out to be a tremendous originalist justice, the courts still represent a major threat to the republic. The combination of flawed jurisprudence and runaway district courts will continue to undermine the will of the people despite this strong replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Today’s Lack of Constitutional Jurisprudence
Celebrated Republican appointed Judge Richard Posner said in November 2015 at the Loyola Constitutional Law Colloquium: “I’m not particularly interested in the 18th century, nor am I particularly interested in the text of the Constitution, I don’t believe that any document drafted in the 18th century can guide our behavior today. Because the people in the 18th century could not foresee any of the problems of the 21st century.”
This mentality is commonplace amongst our major legal universities, where more importance is placed on judicial decisions than on the Constitution itself. Former attorney general Ed Meese has pointed out, “In almost two hundred years, it (the Supreme Court) has produced nearly 500 volumes of Reports of cases. So, in terms of sheer bulk, constitutional law greatly overwhelms the Constitution. But in substance, it is meant to support and not overwhelm the Constitution hence it is derived.”
These 500 volumes of work are precisely what many law schools give utmost importantance to today instead of the Constitution itself, creating an environment Judge Robert Bork describes as where “What the students learn, to put it bluntly, is that legal reasoning of the sort that served us for centuries is now utterly outmoded, and a verbal formulation can always be devised to reach the correct political result.”
Instead of non-political judges focused on applying statutes as appropriately as possible, we see judges emerge from the most elite law schools driven to use their most creative mental gymnastics to create a certain political effect.
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Walters is right. One judge can't stop the tidal wave of bad jurisprudence, and it would take hundreds of decisions by this court to overturn decades of judicial overreach. That's why we need a Convention of States. With one constitutional amendment, we can scale back the power of the federal government and return that power to the people.
Sign the Convention of States Petition below to stop judicial overreach!