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Nov 17, 2017 · The judicial branch of the U.S. government is the system of federal courts and judges that interprets laws made by the legislative branch and enforced by the executive branch.
- Judicial Branch
The federal courts' most important power is that of judicial review, the authority to interpret the Constitution. When federal judges rule that laws or government actions violate the spirit of the Constitution, they profoundly shape public policy. For example, federal judges have declared over 100 federal laws unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court developed the Constitutional Avoidance Doctrine to minimize concerns about unelected federal judges setting aside Congress’s laws on constitutional grounds. Underlying the Constitution is the principle that government legitimacy depends on the consent of the people.
The federal judiciary is the branch of government that holds trials and decides cases under the nation's laws. The powers of the federal judiciary appear in Article III of the U.S. Constitution. America adopted the Constitution in 1788. Before then, the country did not have a separate judiciary.
In America, judicial review refers to the power of the courts to examine laws and other government actions to determine if they violate or contradict previous laws, the state’s constitution, or the federal constitution.
Some national courts of appeal were needed for “cases to which foreigners or inhabitants of other States may be parties,” but perhaps all else that was required was to have state judges swear “fidelity” to the “general” constitution.
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A high-level overview of the judicial branch and its power of judicial review. The design of the judicial branch protects the Supreme Court’s independence as a branch of government. The Supreme Court wields the power of judicial review to check the actions of the other branches of government.
