Obama on Justice

Does Obama even know what the Supreme Court does? It is the ultimate court of appeals and typically makes rulings on whether something is Constitutional or not. It does not hear cases for the first time, it only hears them after a series of lower courts have heard them. It does not rule on the merits of the case, it rules on whether the law was correctly applied, the correct procedures were followed, and/or whether the applicable law is Constitutional. Empathy is not relevant. Knowledge and understanding of the law is relevant.

Sadly, Obama is out of step with the American people, though not surprisingly he's in accord with the Democratic Party. Most people believe that the Supreme Court should rule based on the Constitution. But only a few Democrats believe this.

Obama has clearly stated that he believes that the Supreme Court should not just interpret the law but it should make new law and it should act to make changes and that the Constitution is flawed. Of course, we have a mechanism for changing the Constitution through amendments, but Obama apparently believes the Courts should bypass that (probably since the people can't be trusted to get things right).

(One some of the links in the previous paragraph, the comments are more interesting than the original post)

Technorati: Law, Obama, Constitution, Courts