Exploring the Law: Part 3

Dear Readers,

Hello again! I’m glad you’ve come back for the third part of this series. This time I think we’ll take a quick look at a very important document that established the backbone of our government as we know it today. I am, of course, talking about the United States Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution

For those of you that may have forgotten; the constitution came into effect in 1789 and it established the rules and separate powers of the three branches of federal government. We have a legislature, congress, an executive branch, lead by the President, and a judicial branch headed by the United States Supreme Court. There are checks and balances in place that prevent any one branch from having too much power.

As the law of the land, it establishes the fundamental laws and, more importantly, the guaranteed certain basic rights of its citizens. What this means is that no power, not even the government itself, can violate the basic rights granted by the U.S. Constitution. This is a very big deal because the government is forced to cooperate with its population to find the best possible solutions while stepping on the least amount of toes.

The job of defining the scope and application of the Constitution has been assigned to the Supreme Court in the historic case of Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803). The Supreme Court’s ruling answered a very important question; Does the Supreme Court have the authority to review acts of Congress and determine whether they are unconstitutional and therefore void?

“It is emphatically the duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.” – Marbury v. Madison. This means that any issues that are constitutionally questionable are answered by the Supreme Court. A perfect example of this exercise of power is in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). The case brought to the Supreme Court the issue of whether segregation was constitutional or if violated the basic rights provided by the 14th Amendment.

If you want to learn more, or if you want to actually see the constitution then this Link will take you to the official site.