Using examples, explain the limitations on the Supreme Courts powers.How do Presidents veto legislation, and how significant is the presidential veto?

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Using examples, explain the limitations on the Supreme Court’s powers.

The president and Congress both have the power to check the Supreme Court in various ways, this is known as ‘checks and balances’ and was inscribed into the Constitution to avoid tyranny and to encourage a spirit of bipartisanship between the three branches of government.

Congress has four significant checks on the Supreme Court.  The Senate has the power to confirm or reject appointments made to the Supreme Court by the President, for example following Lewis Powell’s retirement President Reagan nominated Robert Bork as associate judge. Lewis Powell was widely considered as a moderate and was often referred to as the ‘swing vote’ in close decisions; democrats feared the Court would shift the philosophical nature.  In the Senate Judiciary Committee headed by Chairman Joe Biden voted 9-5 against the appointment. It is extremely unlikely for a nomination to get confirmed without the support of the committee. It was expected that Bork would withdraw his nomination, however he did not and the vote went to the Senate resulting in 58-42 against his appointment. Therefore it is evident that the President does not always get whom he wants on the Supreme Court and cannot determine the membership of the court and their philosophies of judicial review without the consent of the Senate. Not only does Congress get to decide who sits on the Supreme Court but also how many judges sit on the Court. Thereby giving the President the obligation to make new appointments and potentially altering the philosophical make-up of the Court. The Senate refused President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 9 to 15 for this very reason- that by agreeing to such a plan, the nature of the Supreme Court would be altered. If the Senate suspects a judge to be tyrannical they may if they wish remove the judge from their post through impeachment. Even the threat of impeachment can be effective. In 1968 Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigned rather than face almost certain impeachment. Only one Supreme Court Justice has been impeached. Congress has the power to initiate constitutional amendments that can have the effect of negating a decision by the Court. The clearest example of this was the Court’s 1895 decision of Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, when it declared federal income tax to be unconstitutional. As a result congress initiated, with the states ratification, the 16th Amendment, which stated: “The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes.” However recent attempts to initiate constitutional amendments to overturn the Court’s decisions such as flag desecration, school prayers, abortion rights and congressional term limits have all failed. Overall Congress has the power to place judges on the Court, remove judges from the Court, and determine how many judges sit on the Court and from time to time initiate constitutional amendments.

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The president has three significant checks on the Court. Most importantly is the power to nominate judges to the Court. By choosing justices of a certain political and judicial philosophy, the President may seek to change the nature of the Court. Also, the president can either throw his political weight behind a Court’s decision or openly criticize the decision. President Eisenhower gave his political support to the Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, where the Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Finally, the president has the power of pardon; a pardon is the forgiveness ...

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