Posted by Imbrogno(VIP) on October 24, 2000 at 14:23:31:
In Reply to: Some would say the Supreme Court IS a de facto Judicial Oligarchy, Judicial mandates are edicts, no way to overturn one save by a constitutional amendment which THEY then interperate, serve for life, ect.NT posted by Quintius on October 24, 2000 at 10:07:35:
Yes, but in the grand scheme of things Supreme Court rulings mean diddly dick.
There are a number of instances where the Supreme Court has made a ruling and Congress and the White House have said "screw you buddy!" and nothing became of it. The problem is that the Supreme Court can't enforce their decisions. They have no control over police forces, the military, etc. so if the executives or legislators don't feel like doing something the Court says all they can do is bitch and moan.
An example of this is Brown v. Bd. of Ed. I and II. The south paid no attention to the first so the Court updated their decision in I to contain the words "all deliberate speed" in II which was basically a saving face move and still today hasn't been totally accepted(ie there are still schools that are largely segregated except for maybe one "token" black that is ostricized and generally leads a piss poor life while in school). It's kinda like the GOP convention, there's that one black guy just so they can say the love African-Americans. (I just had to throw out that barb since we're talkin' politics...what's politics w/o mud-slinging?)