is an activist federal judiciary undermining American democracy?
Americans increasingly are concerned that federal judges are undermining the system established by our Founding Fathers, threatening self-government and eroding liberty. Three features of the system America’s Founders established stand out as particularly important in this discussion: self-government, a written Constitution and the rule of law. The Declaration of Independence opens by saying that it was the people who severed their former political ties and established a new political entity. Those people chose to be governed under a written Constitution that begins with these words: “We the People of the United States . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” In Article VI, the people declared the U.S. Constitution to be the supreme law of the land. The stability of law, rather than arbitrary political power, is the best guarantor of liberty. Obviously, the people and those they elect are the only legitimate lawmakers in such a system. James Ma
