Copyright by James Carlson
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia took it upon themselves to provide oversight on the Administrative (Executive) branch of government, which is an overreach of their Constitutional role. For many, this is nothing new as they have been doing it for a very long time. However, that doesn’t make it right. The effort to review the administrative actions of the White House by the Court represents judicial administration, similar to judicial legislation, that does not belong to this Court.
The ability to provide oversight on the political branches of government (Legislative and Executive) came not from the U.S. Constitution but from Marbury vs Madison, a case in 1804 where the Court overruled a law they deemed unconstitutional. The law that was deemed unconstitutional was an Act by the Adam’s administration that provided for an expanded Court system, meant to frustrate the incoming Jefferson administration. The ability to review Acts of Congress and the Presidency was supposed to follow Constitutional review, which has become a well accepted norm called Judicial Review (this is a very necessary power of the Court). More recently, the idea of Judicial Supremacy has taken the place of Judicial Review, which should be opposed with all litigious vigor.
It is an interesting irony that the Law passed by the Adam’s administration and Congress expanded the Court system. This power came from Article III of the Constitution but the case of Marbury vs Madison did not decide in favor of the Court official who brought the case. As such, Judicial Review in this instance may decide against Judge Carl Nichols who is using the bench given to his care for other than legitimate purposes.
The judicial system continues to expand and has grown so large that is represents unrestrained oligarchical powers in America. Left to itself, the Judiciary will continue to expand its presence into every area of American life, if it hasn’t already. What is needed is more than Judicial Review, we need Congressional oversight on the Judiciary to be exercised according to Constitutional guidelines. Constitutional ‘checks and balances’ are rarely used by Congress to limit the power of the Courts; this aspect of the power of Congress has become lethargic and it needs to be revived and exercised once again.
The judiciary, according to Article III of the Constitution, is subject to the Congress for the bounds of its jurisdiction. More than just limiting the geographical scope of the Courts, it provides oversight on the matter of how the Court conducts business. The Congress provides the Court with a code of ethics, the manner in which cases are tried, and can in extreme circumstances impeach jurists on the bench who overstep their bounds. With this recent ruling on Friday, 7 February 2025, the Court has continued a bad practice of judicial administration similar to the mis-application of judicial legislation.
We have been introduced to the Court’s judicial legislation for many decades and to date no jurist on the bench has been tried and impeached; and so the bad habit persists. The need to limit the Court from violating the Separation of Powers clause of the Constitution is necessary to rein in the abuse of power the Court habitually practices. This is true in this most recent episode where a lower federal court is attempting to provide oversight to the Trump administrative actions over USAID, that is the rightful power of the current Trump administration to perform. The Court is interfering with the lawful duty of the administration to end waste, fraud, and abuse of this agency.
The Constitution provides that any case involving ambassadors, public officials, and the states belongs to the original jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court. This lower federal court has begun their work of overreach by stepping over the Supreme Court before stepping over the Trump administration. As we have seen how the Court weaponized the law against Mr. Trump over the last several years, we are seeing it again in terms of the misfeasance and malfeasance of this lower court. And while we can take strides in admiring the problem more, let’s provide a few concrete solutions to this problem.
· We can go to the Congress and ask that they limit the scope of this lower court to deal with cases involving any administrations actions on bureaucratic officials and policies (ethics and judicial procedures may be amended). The Court on the whole is not supposed to hear political arguments between competing parties but actual wrongs committed between persons. The politization of the Court needs to be reined in.
· We need to insist that the current administration ignore the attempt at Judicial Supremacy by this lower court as it is unconstitutional and original jurisdiction belongs to the Supreme Court. Again, we are witnessing the type of overreach that may be characterized as Judicial Supremacy and not Judicial Review.
· Along these lines, the Supreme Court needs to weigh in and rein in the misadventures of this lower court. Until an actual case with actual plaintiffs, etc. is presented, there is a problem with the lower court taking this matter into their own hands by themselves.
· Finally, given the current trend of the Court to put all things Trump into a judicial box, it may be time to exercise the impeachment power over judges who use their position for other than judicial purposes. This exercise needs to be thorough and swift in order to prevent the never ending expansion of the Courts led by those in the Court who have a rabid appetite to govern all of American society.
The oligarchy of the Court has long been established and needs the check and balance of Congress and he Supreme Court to limit the continued abuse of power. And if former President Biden (who got Borked in a recent decision as original intent is now back in a majority on the bench) dismissed the Supreme Court’s decision because he basically didn’t like it, we have a precedent with the former President that the Courts can be challenged. And as Mr. Biden told us to watch out for oligarchies, there is no more dangerous oligarchy in America than the U.S. Court system. They are a hot mess!!!
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