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                                    188 CHAPTER 6 %u2022 The Federal JudiciaryAP%u00ae REQUIRED FOUNDATIONALDOCUMENTSFederalist No. 78 is one of the nine foundational documents required in AP%u00ae U.S. Government and Politics.Document ScopeFederalist No. 78 Hamilton argues that the judiciary will act impartially and is insulated from politics. He also argues that the judiciary is the weakest branch.Preparing for the AP%u00aeExamwould diminish the rights of states and individuals. An Antifederalist essay, Brutus No.%u00a011, published in a New York newspaper in January 1788, warned against this very possibility. In granting the Supreme Court the power to overturn legislation, %u201cBrutus%u201d argued that the nation would run the risk of unconstrained justices imposing their own views of what is constitutional and what is not. He cautioned, %u201cThe opinions of the supreme court, whatever they may be, will have the force of law, because there is no power provided in the constitution that can correct their errors or control their adjudications.%u201d35In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton sought to reassure skeptical Antifederalists and others that the federal judiciary would not trample upon their rights and liberties. Hamilton argued that members of the federal judiciary%u2014because of the process of their selection and their lifetime tenure%u2014would stand apart from politics and be able to %u201csecure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.%u201d36 Compared to the power of the sword and the purse, Hamilton reassured, the federal judiciary%u2014exercising only the power of judgment and operating outside of politics%u2014did not pose a threat to liberty. He argued that the judiciary needed protection from encroachment on its limited powers by the other two branches.Federalist No. 78essay by Alexander Hamilton that the federal judiciary would be unlikely to infringe upon rights and liberties but would serve as a check on the other two branches.At this point in the course, you have had an opportunity to read most of the required foundational documents. When reading foundational documents, recall what you know about the author. For example, we know that Alexander Hamilton was a strong proponent of the Constitution and was one of the three authors of The Federalist Papers. As you read this excerpt from Federalist No. 78, keep Hamilton%u2019s perspective in mind.Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them. The executive not only dispenses the honours, but holds the sword of the community; the legislature not only commands the purse, but prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of every citizen are to be regulated; the judiciary, on the contrary, has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever. It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and it must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.%u2014Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 781. Describe Hamilton%u2019s view of the power held by the executive.2. Describe Hamilton%u2019s view of the power held by the legislature.3. Explain why, according to Hamilton, the judiciary is not as powerful as the executive or the legislature.4. Identify a power of the judiciary that Hamilton omits from this quote and explain why Hamilton omits this power in making his argument.AP%u00ae Political Science SKILLSInterpreting Foundational DocumentsPreparing for the AP%u00aeExam%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.
                                
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