At 17:36 -0600 on 3/14/01, Jim Choate wrote:
Per the 10'th: Where in there (ie Section 2 in particular) does it say that ANY court has the job of determining the meaning of the Constitution?
Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;-- between a State and Citizens of another State;--between Citizens of different States;--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
It begins here and is extended by the 14th. A judges job is to apply the law to the case presented to him. For all federal judges (and today state judges) the law is a stack of rulings by other courts and laws based by legislative bodies. For a federal court the stack is The Constitution. The accumulated federal statues Case law For state courts we have The Constitution (per the 14th) State Law Case law Any layer can be overridden by the layer above it, so state and federal judges are expected to take all layers into account to minimize the number of rulings that have to overturned on appeal. It is also expected that lower courts take a more strict view of the law than appellate courts as the appellate courts job is to rule on points of law while the lower court is a primarily a finder of fact with ruling on law a secondary role (the difference between appellate and original jurisdiction). -- "As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air--however slight--lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." -- Justice William O. Douglas ____________________________________________________________________ Kevin "The Cubbie" Elliott <mailto:kelliott@mac.com> ICQ#23758827