Lysander Spooner’s Case Against Judicial Supremacy
“An unconstitutional judicial decision is no more binding than an unconstitutional legislative act.” That was Lysander Spooner, utterly rejecting the doctrine of judicial supremacy – the dangerous notion that a judicial opinion becomes law simply because judges...
Who Decides? The Founders’ Forgotten System of Checks and Balances
“There is not a syllable in the constitution, that makes a decision of the judiciary – of its own force, and without regard to its correctness – binding upon any body, either upon the executive, or the people.” That’s from Lysander Spooner, reminding us of...
The Supreme Court Was Wrong About Taxes
Along with some good decisions, Supreme Court justices made some mistakes in the term just ended. One mistake involved taxes—and it is likely to bedevil the court in future cases. Moore v. United States posed the question of whether Congress could tax corporate...