SCOTUS: A scary lotta power in the hands of very few.
"Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny."
-- Patrick Henry
Mr. Henry was right but he was wrong in his assessment of the division of powers. Power was originally divided between the three branches AND the states. The states were to be the check on the judiciary and the rest of the federal government. Lincoln destroyed that check and now, because of it, we live in an administrative and judicial tyranny.
You are correct. A major means by which the states had such a check was via their control over the selection of US Senators. The House was the peoples'. The Senate was to represent the interests of the States as States, as a check on the direct power of the people via their House members, and as a check on Federal Usurpation of States' Rights. It was believed that, through the Senate, the Federal Courts would be checked against usurpation of States Rights by the Senates' power to withhold judicial appointments unless they approved of their record on States' Rights. Well, that was done away with, about the time the Federal Reserve and income tax were created, via the Seventeenth Amendment.
