2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Jonathan Turley: Supreme Court Should Have 19 Members [View all]onenote
(42,700 posts)If Congress passed a law declaring that Christianity was the official state religion and that church attendance was mandatory, what would be the recourse if the courts could not strike that law down on the grounds that it conflicts with the First Amendment? How would a person escape being punished for disobeying a law that is at odds with the Constitution.
Feel free to substitute any example you feel comfortable answering: a law banning abortion at any time after conception with no exceptions. A law allowing warrantless searches of any non-caucasian male. I could go on, but you get my point -- if the Supreme Court, in ruling on whether a person was properly charged with a crime, cannot determine whether the law on which the charges was based was a valid exercise of legislative power under the Constitution, what is the recourse?