supreme courts reactivity to popular will in modern times essays

supreme courts reactivity to popular will in modern times essays The Supreme Court safeguards much of its power by creating walls to separate its power from public opinion and political pandering. And while impartiality is undoubtedly the preeminent characteristic desirable in a justice, it is impossible to nominate a human being that is not at least partially fallible and swayed by the society around him. The Warren Court of 1953 to 1969 perfectly illustrates the concurrent philosophies of the Court with the prevailing political party of the day. The growing thought of the time was for increased civil rights and an activist government. President Eisenhower integrated the military and was a strong voice for racial reconciliation. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were liberals who were both interested in achieving the Great Society, with racial equality a chief goal. In 1954 the Warren Court unanimously followed the trend of the time, and ruled in Brown v. Board of Ed. that separating blacks from whites was inherently unequal, thereby paving the way for the entire civil rights movement. In '64 the court continued to reflect public opinion, when it chose to accept the very loose interpretation of the interstate commerce clause to further it's activist agenda in the Heart of Atlanta Motel Case, by saying blacks could not be barred from staying in private establishments. The War ren Court reflected the prevailing Democrats in criminal rights as well. Between '61 and '66 the Mapp, Gideon, and Miranda cases all dramatically increased rights of the accused, simultaneous to the most rampant popularity of the Democrats. The Warren court championed separation of church and state, in Engel v. Vitale ('62) and Abbington v. Schempp ('63), and freedom of speech, in Tinker v. Des Moines ('69), as did its Democratic counterparts in Congress and the White House. Of course it is important to recognize that the Warren Court was not merely a knee jerk respondent to public opinion. Many of its decision...