Modern Age - Winter 2018 - 33

The Libertarian Constitutional Fantasy

answer, not to "split the baby" in Solomonic fashion by fashioning
an expedient compromise. Judges who make policy (by deciding
cases based on their own subjective opinion of what is preferable
as a policy matter) are correctly accused of "legislating from the
bench." When judges do this, they overstep their role and usurp
the authority of the other branches.
In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton (citing Montesquieu)
said that "incontestably . . . the judiciary is beyond comparison the
weakest of the three departments of power." Hamilton explained
that this is because the judiciary exercises "neither force nor will
but merely judgment." In the course of this discussion, Hamilton
contrasts the judiciary with the role of the legislature, which "not
only commands the purse but prescribes the rules by which the
duties and rights of every citizen are to be regulated." In contrast
to the legislative branch, the judiciary is essentially passive.
If we stopped there, we would be left with the firm impression
that the framers did not conceive of a judicial role that would
permit-let alone obligate-courts to second-guess the wisdom
or efficacy of legislation, as contemplated by judicial engagement.
But Hamilton went on to warn against the dangers of blurring
the lines between the branches: in Federalist No. 78, again citing
Montesquieu, Hamilton was emphatic that "there is no liberty if
the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and
executive powers . . . as liberty can have nothing to fear from the
judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union
with either of the other departments."
Given the framers' devotion to the separation of powers and
checks and balances, Hamilton was as concerned with legislative
encroachment on the judiciary as he was with judicial encroachment on the legislature. The separate branches of government
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Modern Age - Winter 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Winter 2018

Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2018 - Cover1
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Modern Age - Winter 2018 - Contents
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