None of these decisions were without controversy of some sort, and there was ever-present accusation from lawmakers that the Justices were once again engaging in Judicial Activism. And with the narrow decision (5-4) on Stenberg v. Carhart, Nebraska's statute that sought to criminalize the performance of "partial birth abortions," the High Court is in the center of the battle for the Presidency. Each camp (Bush and Gore) sees the court's narrow vote on this issue as a chance to either keep abortion legal or allow it to be banned on a state-by-state basis, with no interference from the Supreme Court. This week's Newsweek magazine cover proclaimed: "The War over the Supreme Court," and the article therein spoke to the divisive nature of today's Court and the ever increasing role it plays in American society. Charles Warren a distinguished jurist and student of the Supreme Court has said, "nothing in the Court's history is more striking than the fact that, while its significant and necessary place in the Federal form of Government has always been recognized by thoughtful and patriotic men, nevertheless, no branch of the Government and no institution under the Constitution has sustained more continuous attack or reached its present position after more vigorous opposition."
The Supreme Court of the United States is perhaps the most misunderstood branch of the Federal Government, by both lawmakers (who should know better), and the American people. Created by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court at the time of its inception was unique in its function amongst the world's governments and maintains, by and large, that same distinction today. The renowned jurist Charles Evans Hughes once wrote, "The Supreme Court of the United States is distinctly American in conception and function, and owes little to prior judicial institutions."
