by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 26, 2015 | Checks & Balances
Judicial review The rule of law requires that the executive in its coercive action be bound by rules which prescribe not only when and where it may use coercion but also in what manner it may do so. The only way in which this can be ensured is to make all its actions...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 26, 2015 | Checks & Balances
Laws The legislature should be quick to straitjacket the executive with more detailed and prescriptive laws wherever arbitrary government activity is found to arise from the existing laws. Oversight committees The legislature should monitor the activities of the...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 26, 2015 | Checks & Balances
Personal misconduct The executive should operate an independent Board of Judicial Standards responsible for investigating complaints of judicial personal misconduct. The board should consist of sitting judges, retired judges, and lay members of good standing and...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 20, 2015 | Checks & Balances
The legislature should have the power to impeach judges for both personal misconduct (lack of integrity, dignity, independence, impartiality, or promptness) and jurisprudential waywardness (failure to apply binding precedent, legislation, or the constitution in...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 20, 2015 | Checks & Balances
The judicial branch exerts oversight over the legislature when it reviews legislation. This review must focus solely on whether a given law breaches the constitution. Some claim the courts should be empowered to strike down objectionable laws, even if they do not...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Jul 20, 2015 | Checks & Balances
The Abscam scandal—a sting in which FBI agents posed as Middle Eastern businessmen seeking corrupt favors from lawmakers—resulted in the criminal conviction of seven congressmen. This was a case of the bureaucracy, without direction from the executive branch,...
