states that the Constitution says the only body which can make laws is Congress.
That's true. Congress, made up of the bicameral Senate and House of Representatives, makes the laws.
But, wait! What happens if one of the laws Congress makes is unconstitutional? Meaning, what if this law interferes with the Bill of Rights?
Oh oh. Well, that's why we have the Judicial system which is made up of appellate courts and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gets to decide if laws on the books are constitutional or not.
And guess what? If they decide a law is unconstitutional, then it is no longer the law, even if Congress voted overwhelmingly for it.
The reason our founders put these checks and balances into effect is that they knew that Congress might get all frothed up by popular opinion and pass a law that is clearly horrible, but then someone would challenge that law and the case would rise to the Supreme Court, which would then overturn it because for some reason it goes against the Constitution.
An example: How would it be if the Republicans gerrymandered the states so badly and cheated at so many elections that they had a crushing whack-job majority. Then, that group would pass a law that called for, say, people who were guilty of 'heresy' against the evangelical megachurches could be taken into custody with no recourse to a fair trial, tortured (they are going to hell anyway, why wait?), and then burnt at stakes in a giant auto-de-fe.
Horrifying? You bet. But if Congress passes it and the President signs it, then it is the law. The Supreme Court, when it heard the , case, as it surely would, would be forced to rule against the new law on the basis that it conflicts with first, fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments - they would overturn the law.
= new reply since forum marked as read