The Supreme Court is Supreme within the Judicial branch of government. As such, they decide the proper interpretation of laws, and thus, whether or not laws have been violated. No matter what laws the Legislative branch may make, or what laws the Executive branch may execute (think of apprehending law breakers), the Judiciary can, by virtue of interpretation, excuse those violating the laws if they assert that a particular litigant is not in violation. According to established precedent, the Supreme Court may actually invalidate laws that are seen to be in conflict with our US Constitution. This is a good thing and a necessary check on reactionary populism. But a most egregious overreach of judicial power occurs when the Supreme Court decides to invalidate laws created by the other two branches of the government although the court is not actually sure there has been a constitutional violation. This happens whenever there is a 5 to 4 split decision on the matter of constitutionality. At best, it is unclear whether the representatives of the people have committed an unconstitutional act. IMHO this is an abuse of power. And perhaps a proper fix is to amend the constitution to require a more substantive vote from the court and/or to FORCE a clarifying constitutional amendment to be placed before the state legislatures. Perhaps it should be that the congress has no option but to issue a clarifying amendment to the states in those cases where the Supreme Court strikes down laws on constitutional grounds. In that way the final arbitration of justice would be much closer the people.
