Originally Posted by Lenny2

This is a perfect example of why the court system is so important in a government such as ours.

Theoretically speaking, if someone wanted to pass a law saying we will kill all the left handed people in this country next Friday.....if 50% of both chambers of congress vote yea and the president signs the bill....it IS the law of the land.
Now obviously no reasonable person believes something like this would happen, but sometimes congress and the president do succumb to the "mob mentality" and pass unconstitutional laws.

If it weren't for an independent court system, ALL of the left handed people would be dead. The courts are the only recourse the left handed people would have to prevent execution.

Now if a district court judge says that the law is unconstitutional and ordered all left handed people immediately released from custody, the conservatives would whine that the judge is "legislating from the bench" and call him an "activist judge" because according to them the only thing the judge is allowed to do is "interpret the law" so in this case the only thing the judge could decide is whether or not the plaintiff was left handed.

In short, the independence of our courts is what keeps us free. An elected legislature can trample a man's rights as easily as a dictator can. It is the power of the courts to keep the other two branches of government in check that guarantees us our constitutional rights.

Bush has just nominated someone to the highest court in the land where he will stay for probably 30 years or more. A thorough and exhaustive vetting process is what the American people deserve and should demand.