[thelist] Flash, usability, accessibility

James S. Huggins (Evolt) Evolt at ZName.com
Mon Jun 10 01:31:01 CDT 2002


==========================
Original post:
You're wrong. In the U.S., the constitution expressly charges the courts
with interpreting the law.


My response:
While I would agree that the courts have the job of interpreting, I would
disagree that the constitution expressly grants that authority.

A quick review of Article III
(http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleiii.html)
provides no such charge.


The follow up question:
What does 'judicial power' mean then?
=========================


Excuse my poor wording. I do not disagree that the courts have the power.
Nor do I disagree that such power of interpretation is clearly implied by
the constitution. My only minor quibble is with the phrase "expressly
charges the courts with interpreting". The constitution does not "expressly"
charge anyone with interpreting. Rather, such power to interpret is implied
by the granting of judicial power and by the historical and contextual
meanings of such phrases.

I would simply preferred the original statement to be more along the lines
of:
In the U.S., the constitution vests judicial power (including the implied
power to interpret the law) in the courts.

(Of course, here we are speaking only of the United States (the national
government). State and local governments are governed by their own
constitutions and laws.)

It is a minor point, of importance only to me, in the same way that a single
semicolon is sometimes important to a programmer. I find I'm already
regretting the post. Where is the "undo button"?




James S. Huggins




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