Judicial Branch and Politics

The government of the United States was created in a very complex manner in order to ensure checks and balances and the insulation of the judicial branch from politics. The framers of the constitution wanted to insulate the Supreme Court justices from politics because the framers strived for justices that would make decisions purely on their own unaltered beliefs. Although the framers did somewhat exclude the judicial branch from politics, the branch is still somewhat affected. Some examples of places where politics affect the judicial branch include the president’s nomination for Supreme Court justice and the senate’s conformation of these justices. Moreover, to ensure that the judicial branch does not gain too much power, the system of checks and balances gives the executive and legislative branch a certain extent of power over the judicial branch.

A) A president’s choice for a new Supreme Court justice relies heavily on politics. For example, it is extremely rare that a president will nominate a justice from a different party. The reason for this is that if the justice is in the same political party as the president than the odds are that they will share a lot of the same opinions about certain matters. In addition if a, for example, democratic president nominates a republican justice then the Supreme Courts vote will more likely be favored to the republican side since there would be an extra republican justice. A second example of how politics play a role in a president’s nomination for a new Supreme Court justice is that a president will sooner nominate a man who the public favors rather than a man who the public does not like. The president will wish to do this because if the public likes his choice for the new Supreme Court justice than they will sooner vote for the president for a second term. These reasons are why the judicial branch is not completely insulated from politics.

B) Not only do politics affect the president nomination for Supreme...