Question

In what ways are courts, judges and justices shielded from politics and political pressure?

In what ways are they vulnerable to political power? Give an example. What does this say about our justice system?

Answer 1

• By judicial review – This is the court’s authority to examine laws that are mostly made by the legislature branch of the government if they are unconstitutional, and then the court invalidates such laws. Supreme Court is the one that is vested with this authority of invalidating unconstitutional laws. The actions of the executive and legislature branches of government are overturned by the judicial branch.
• The Supreme Court plays an active role in safeguarding that executive and legislature firmly abide by the constitution without any contrary.Judicial review gives the court and judges authority to act independently while dealing with issues of law violation thus making justice to all without any form of favors. Some examples of notable uses of judicial review in Supreme Court history would be, Marbury v. Madison, this was a political case but the Supreme Court ruled that an act of congress was unconstitutional.
• Though,the judicial system is termed as an independent institution,its appointment mode subjects the process to political likelihood of manipulation.
• They can be vulnerable to political pressures however because they do in fact support a particular ideology/party that oftentimes guides how they make their decisions. Also, they may feel obligated to follow the ideology of the president that appointed them.
• Given that the appointment of the judges is normally done by the political class,this subjects the system to political appraisal.The fear of re appointment after change in government thus subjects the judicial system to some boot leaking condition.Clearly,when politics dogs the judicial system,the officers in the judicial system live in constant fear of political reprisal and hence tend to serve the interest of the political class than to fully follow the constitutional order.