Why do we have the judical branch?

[SwordofGeddo]

Hey new here(this is like my second or third post).

I was just wondering out of frustration, why do we have the Supreme Court and the judical branch of the government? THey seem to do nothing but bad things to this country. They outlawed school prayer in the 1960s, they legalized abortion in the 1970s, they declared anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional back in 2003 i think? And many lower courts have forced Gay marriage in states even when the people of those states have voted to keep marriage between a man and a women.

Recently Roberts voted Obamacare was legal as a tax, I feel almost like he was paid off to rule as he did.

Why do we have this part of the government that can made sweeping decrees and laws with the slam of a gavel? Why allow these unelected people to go against the will of citizens, enforcing their own kind of law on all of us without our consent?

Why not just get rid of this problem, and eliminate the judicial branch?

[clemson]

It was intended to be the weakest branch of the three and to 1) be the final word on judicial matters (crimes, civil cases), and 2) be the independent body that stopped unconstitutional passed laws from taking affect

[jb777]

It was intended to be the weakest branch of the three and to 1) be the final word on judicial matters (crimes, civil cases), and 2) be the independent body that stopped unconstitutional passed laws from taking affect

This is true. However, while a president can have a good idea of what the political leanings are of any justice he appoints, he cannot know for sure. For example, President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I'm fairly sure he didn't think Warren and his court would do the damage it did to our country....outlawing prayer in schools and so forth. Later, Eisenhower said that Warren was the worst appointment he ever made. No kidding. I think with respect to Roberts, I have a a feeling that there was some overt and not so overt coercion going on. Obama called the court out publicly before they ruled and there is evidence that Roberts was going to vote to strike down Obamacare and then changed his mind at the last minute. I suspect too that one reason he might have was he felt the Congress and the people needed to redress this mess via election...in other words, vote Obama out and elect someone who would remedy the situation. I also think he wanted to gain some "political" capital that he could use on another case down the line.

The Court, when it does its job with a view to the Constitution and rule of law, usually ends up on the right side. However, when they don't, we end up with the mess. They are sort of the last resort in terms of stopping things that aren't popular.

[OnlyHIM!]

And, just like every other branch of government, it too has been twisted and corrupted by the individuals within the organization. We had a good thing going in 1776. Then, a liberal had an idea they could make it "better."

[carol1948]

The Judicial Branch is not autonomous/independent. It can be overridden by the Legislative and Executive Branches. You can do a search on U.S. Constitution checks and balances. It's true, and very frustrating to know that all those decisions cited in the first post could have been overturned when we had 'so-called' conservative majorities in both the Senate/Congress and Executive Branches.

[BarbT]

It was intended....

Three very important words.