CAS PO 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Actor Model, Antonin Scalia, Originalism

• School: Boston University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: CAS PO 331
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Judges are agents of the people, congress and the president. People and organizations can send briefs to the court to judge in a certain way. Not much can be done to discipline the courts. Judges can be impeached and president has the power to appoint. Other branches implement the laws, people view judiciary as the weakest. Supreme court can reverse decisions but cannot remove lower court judges. Conservative and bound to the words of the constitution. In case the constitution is silent, the states have the say. Not straying too far from the spirit of the country. Judicial activism: constitution is a living and breathing. Interpreted and enumerated rights (rights not in the constitution) Framers allowed the constitution to be interpreted knowing the limitation of knowledge. Language of the constitution is old and product of its time. Set goals --> gather all of the information --> consider all the alternatives --> cost benefit analysis.