Today I try to answer what I see as the two core questions about the Supreme Court: 1. Should judicial review, the power to strike down statutes deemed unconstitutional, exist at all? 2. Should unelected judges have so much power in a democracy? https://www.liberalcurrents.com/fix-the-amendment-process-to-fix-the-court/

I think the very idea of a Constitution is moot if you don't think it trumps statutes in the constitutional legal system. If you think that's true, then you need someone to make that determination. Something like judicial review is needed, whether or not it's actually judicial.

Something that is somehow rarely mentioned in debates about unelected judges is that America actually has more elected judges than just about anywhere, and the result isn't what I'd call wonderful.

The key issue with judicial review IMO isn't the fact that judges are unelected but that our Constitution is so hard to amend that the review is completely one-sided. If judges interpret a statute a way Congress dislikes, they can update the statute. Not so with the Constitution.

In this piece I also discuss the rationale behind independent courts and agencies, and defend the importance of professional politicians. Under-resourced local legislatures are way more likely to just outsource the work of legislating to interest groups!

Please read the piece to see how these points are developed and fleshed out https://www.liberalcurrents.com/fix-the-amendment-process-to-fix-the-court/

Of possible interest @jtlevy @willwilkinson @mattyglesias @ne0liberal @joero3