Jonathan Turley: Supreme Court Should Have 19 Members

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45. If the Constitution isn't enforceable, what is the point of having a Constitution?

Having a Constitution that establishes certain limits on the power of government (and in other instances confers authority on the government) is somewhat pointless if its not enforceable. I'll go to another example. THe Constitution provides that one is supposed to be protected against unreasonable searches and seizures. If a court can't find that a law giving the police unbridled authority to search someone with no warrant and no need for any showing of reasonable cause, and someone is searched and found to be in possession of evidence of a crime, if the court can't pass on the constitutionality of the search, the doctrine of being protected in criminal cases from the use of the "fruit of the poisonous tree" goes out the window. To say that the electorate could rise up in a couple of years to elect new legislators who would then repeal the law to make it consistent with the Constitution is small solace the folks sitting in jail for years waiting for that to happen.