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by Seeya says Dont Ever Give Up on January 11th, 2009

Seeya says Dont Ever Give Up

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How are supreme court rulings enforced?

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  • by Razzle-Fratchit on November 24th, 2009

    Razzle-Fratchit

    Assuming you mean the U.S. Supreme Court, it depends on the type/class of the ruling, but I don't think you're terribly concerned with the matter of writs, stays, and the like, and are essentially asking about how Supreme Court *Decisions* are enforced - e.g., the Court's decision in Roe-v-Wade.

    The answer is that inferior courts - both Federal and State - follow suit, and will simply refuse to uphold a state or Federal statute that the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional, and will not admit into evidence that which the Supreme Court has declared inadmissable. That being the case, cops, lawyers, and State & Federal bureaucrats won't pursue a court action that they and everyone else in Law and Government already know they can't win.

    If a judge did thumb his nose at the Supreme Court's decision, his ruling could be appealed straight up the chain all the way to the Supreme Court which, of course, would uphold its decision. So any judge who would try to defy it would just be wasting everyone's time - not to mention committing professional suicide. Any judge who willfully defied a clear Supreme Court decision would most likely be impeached, removed from office, and probably disbarred.

    The U.S. Congress does, however, have the Constitutional authority to limit the appelate authority of the Supreme Court. What that means is Congress could pass a law - like one banning abortion - and include in that law the provison prohibiting the Supreme Court from hearing any appeals challenging the constitutionality of that law or the regulations implemented to enforce it. If that were to happen, the only way to challenge such a law is at the ballot-box, voting in a new Congress to repeal it.

    No Congress in history, however, has ever made use of that power for obvious reasons: to do so would be to either admit that the law was unconstitutional from the outset, or to indict the Supreme Court as incompetant or worse, as enemies of the Constitution.

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