Text 6433, 44 rader
Skriven 2010-03-30 08:53:46 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 6419 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Question about democracy
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Dale Shipp wrote to Michiel Van Der Vlist on Monday March 29 2010 at 23:28:

DS>> Then what does your supreme court do?

MVDV>> It is called "hooggerecht" (high court) and it is the last in the
MVDV>> chain of appeal. It judges individual cases, not laws.

DS> That puts it at the same level as the various courts of appeal here
DS> then.

Just to make sure there are no misunderstandings here: the US Supreme Court
judges individual cases too, not laws. But the individual cases are based on
laws, and the court judges whether the laws are constitutional or not. It they
are, the case result is as judged by the lower court and either the SC confirms
that, or simply refuses to hear a case. If they aren't, the law is judged
unconstitutional and the case is referred back to the lower court for
re-judgement.

You can't bring a suit against a _law_ before the Supreme Court, but you can -
after exhausting all lower courts - take a suit involving the effect of a law
(state or federal) on yourself to the Supreme court for a judgement of it's
constitutionality.

This may be unclear to Michiel.

MVDV>> Here the last one to judge is the senate. If the senate judges a
MVDV>> law in violation, it will not pass it. Once it is passed the
MVDV>> senate, the violation is just an opinion.

So there is nothing to prevent an unconstitutional law from being passed and
enforced?

DS> What if they pass a law that is in contradiction to your constitution
DS> or other laws?  What then?

My point exactly. I can't imagine there are really no checks on
unconstitutional laws in the NL either, although that appears to be what
Michiel is saying. Or does the NL not have a constitution? I can't imagine that
either. This is a very confused discussion.

Cheers, Bob

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