The Supreme Court Year in Review
2001-2002 Term
Introduction
By Nicholas Provenzo
Chairman
The Center for the Moral Defense of Capitalism
A proper government defines and protects the individual rights of its citizens. Under such a government, the courts play a crucial role; it is through the courts that men are able to settle disputes peaceably according to predetermined legal rules. It is these legal rules that guide the judiciary—both substantively and procedurally—in achieving justice in the thousands of trial verdicts and appellate opinions that are issued each day in a functioning society. It is also to these legal rules that citizens look to find their rights substantively defined, as well as to find the determinative, logical procedures that they must follow in order to secure these rights in times of conflict.
At the pinnacle of a proper judicial system is a supreme court—as it is in the American republic. The United States Supreme Court represents the final arbiter for disputes, whether they are between individuals, corporations, or governments. It is charged with the mission of not only interpreting and applying statutes, but it also has the solemn responsibility of interpreting the enumerated powers granted to the U.S. government under the Constitution. It is the Supreme Court’s fundamental task to ensure for all Americans that the government’s exercise of its powers remains wedded solely to the principle that animates the Constitution—the doctrine of individual rights.
Yet without a consistent understanding of the principle of individual rights, the Supreme Court (and the lower courts) are rudderless in their interpretation of the Constitution. In the Center’s review of the opinions issued during the Supreme Court’s October 2001 term , we expose a conflicted and inconsistent Court. The Court itself ruled in favor of individual rights in only 55% of the cases in the past term; the rest of its cases were adjudicated along lines that restricted rights and unjustifiably expanded the power of government.
