Constitutional Law
Define judicial review
Judicial review is defined as the entire process of reviewing both legislative and executive actions by the judiciary. In this case, the court has the ultimate power to invalidate acts, laws, or any other government action that seems to be inconsistent with the supreme authorities. In terms of the executive, any decision made the executive may be subject to invalidation if it does not concur with the Constitution of the day (Driesen 2018). The primary goal of the judicial review is to create a balance in the different arms of authorities. It also strives to ensure all the government arms are in terms of the Constitution. All errors in positions of powers are checked and rectified by the judicial review.
Explain why the historical origins and legitimacy of judicial review are often called into question.
The judiciary is regarded as legitimate if the decisions they make are grounded on the law and not o personal or political gains. The decisions should always be worth of obedience and respect. This does not, however, happen within the judiciary. The ultimate decisions are guided by politics and ideologies (Fuentes-Rohwer, 2018). This makes their decisions to have no meaning to the people as they lack respect and are not acceptable.
Discuss whether the framers of the Constitution intended for the judiciary to have this role in the policymaking process.
It was indeed the intention of the constitution frames to have the roles due to its meaning when it comes to the protection and addressing the civil rights. Following the Judicial Learning Centre Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections of 1996, the voter (Annie Harper) was denied the right to vote in Virginia due to her inability to pay the Virginia state’s poll taxes. It was a mandatory requirement for every voter to pay a registration fee of $1.50. all the funds which were collected during this period were directed to the funding of learning institutions. This made Annie Harper see the denial to vote as a violation of the right of equal protection, and this made her sue the state. It was indeed a violation as the clause protected any form of poll taxes to minimize taking advantage of the voting process for personal gains (Tang and Smith Jr 2018).
References
Driesen, D. M. (2018). Judicial Review of Executive Orders’ Rationality. BUL, Rev., 98, 1013.
Fuentes-Rohwer, L. (2018). Taking Judicial Legitimacy Seriously. Chi.-Kent L. Rev., 93, 505.
Tang, A., & Smith Jr, F. O. (2018). Can Unions Be Sued for following the Law? Harv. L. Rev. F., 132, 24.