Overriding Supreme Court Decisions Statutory Interpretation & Reaction Essay

Overriding Supreme Court Decisions Statutory Interpretation & Reaction Legislation - Essay Example Next, one must ask, what are the powers of the Supreme Court Obviously, the powers that the Congress and the Supreme Court have are going to be different. "The Supreme Court's most important responsibility is to decide cases that raise questions of constitutional interpretation. The Court decides if a law or government action violates the Constitution. This power, known as judicial review, enables the Court to invalidate both federal and state laws when they conflict with its interpretation of the Constitution."2 Secondly, what are Congressional overrides "Congressional overrides are most likely when a Supreme Court interpretation reveals an ideologically fragmented court, relies on the text's plain meaning and ignores legislative signals, and/or rejects positions taken by federal, state, or local government."3 Overrides usually occur when the meaning of a text is skewed and it was misinterpreted by the Court or not ruled on fairly. "Congress is much more likely to override 'plain meaning' decisions that any other type of Supreme Court decision."4 Further, the law requires that certain objectives are met in the reading of a text. "Applying the plain meaning of the text furthers important rule of law values, such as predictability, certainty, and objectivity."6 Usually when Congress overrides the Supreme Court, it is done quickly (usually within two years). However, sometimes the Court may misread the predilections of Congressmembers, or, rather, be cryptic in the way it tells Congress that there are problematic Constitutional issues that need to be resolved. Normally those sorts of overrides are also in a year or so and usually come with added worries that the Court is not functioning efficiently. As is bound to happen, perhaps, certain interest groups such as women and the disabled are usually the key players in Supreme Court statutory decisions. "The Court has been more conservative than Congress on issues involving civil rights. The Court's relative conservatism in civil rights cases can be attributed to the difficulty of applying old statutes and legislative history to unanticipated problems and to the Court's own strongly conservative preferences about civil rights policy. Congress' Democratic majorities have been committed to liberal civil rights enforcement"7 In the 70's, Congress tended to be leaning to the left, politically speaking, while the Supreme Court was more conservative regarding civil rights. As such, the Court generally had to deal with more overrides at that time. That tends to be the case whenever a liberal Congress is harnessed with a conservative Court. However, this is not always the case. "During the late Warren Court and early Burger Court (1967-71), the Court's preferences