Judiciary

The American judicial system was formed by emulating English law,  a system of “Common Law” in which judges do not just read the law and decide cases based strictly on what is written but based on its individual merits as well as their interpretation of the law.

In the American legal system the Judges are charged with interpreting the written law using their own “judgement” as well as incorporating historical cases which is known as “legal precedent”. As judges are not to go against cases that have already been decided they must consider past cases prior to making decisions and interpreting existing laws. The influence of past decisions has very strong influence in judge’s decisions in cases being considered still today. I partially agree with this particular system as we should not be reinventing the wheel, however circumstances and situations change. Times also change and if we as a society continue to make judicial decisions based on past rulings there may be cases in which judges could send innocent people to jail, or even let guilty people go free based on decisions made with an out dated point of view. In order to consider previous decisions while continuing to maintain their ability to pass judgment over the case at hand judges should be able not only to interpret the written law, use “legal precedent”, use their judgment, consider the case on its own merits, but also use all the new technology that is available.

In our judicial system we also afford our judges the ability to make or accept plea deals in order to alleviate or reduce the amount of time that cases may take. Due to the fact that interpretation of law can be time consuming and may cause back logs in our court systems. This allows the courts to secure a timely resolution therefore allowing the court system to see more cases and be “more effective”.  Our judicial system also differentiates the different types of crimes whether criminal or civil. I believe this separation allows for a more specific procedure that will allow judges as well as lawyers to better serve their offices as well as their clients.

Although many conservatives may oppose the current way in which judges interpret law this is exactly the way the system was designed to work in our Constitution.  Our system of law if interpreted the way it was designed is meant to give all citizens equal rights and equal treatment in a court of law. Any one facing a court must be afforded what is known as “due process” which basically means that they must follow an established process or set of rules prior to making decisions that may lead to prison terms. This due process insures that our citizen’s rights are not being violated.

We may not have a perfect system however if our judges follow the established laws we should be able to afford our citizens as fair a system as is possible while maintaining civil order. Our judicial branch is charged with protecting the rights of all Americans including minority groups as well as the poor which in turn should allow all to get justice not just those in the majority, privileged, or “upper class” groups of our society.