Is the Supreme Court too powerful?

• Author: Kramer, Larry
• Position: Debate

In June, the Supreme Court decided that a key provision of President Obama's healthcare law, known as Obamacare, was constitutional. In 2014 and 2010, the Court tossed out campaign-finance regulations passed by Congress. And in 2000, the nine justices, in the view of many Americans, essentially chose the winner of the presidential election, siding with George W. Bush over Al Gore in a ballot dispute in Florida. The Court's ability to shape so many aspects of American life has some wondering whether it has too much power.

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[YES] I often hear people say, "Whoever becomes president will pick the next Supreme Court justice, so you better vote!" This statement reveals that something has gone seriously wrong with our democracy. Certainly, the Supreme Court has an important role in American government, but not the overblown role it has come to play.

The Supreme Court decides cases that go to the heart of who we are as a people and what kind of society we should be: It rules on our rights when accused of a crime, on whether the state can execute someone, on how much money we can give to a political candidate, and even on who we have a right to marry. It doesn't make sense for a constitutional democracy to trust those kinds of decisions to people who are appointed for life, who are unaccountable, and who are virtually unremovable.

This is not a matter of what Democrats like versus what Republicans like, or about liberals versus conservatives. The Supreme Court has come to wield enormous power, and everyone should be concerned about that.

The Founding Fathers envisioned the Supreme Court as one branch of the federal government, co-equal in authority to the executive and legislative branches--each branch checking the others but without making any branch superior. They expected the Court to review laws, but they didn't intend for it to have the final word on whether a law is constitutional.

The idea that nine justices have final say over the meaning of our Constitution--that once they have spoken, our only recourse is the nearly impossible task of amending the Constitution or waiting for some of the justices to change their minds or die or retire--ought to offend anyone who believes in democratic government.

The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution never wanted or expected the Supreme Court to have such power. The Founders didn't fight a revolution in...