Jurisdiction Stripping: Denying us our day in Court"If there is no independent tribunal to check legislative or executive action, all the written guarantees or rights in the world would amount to nothing."
— Sen. Barry Goldwater, R- Ariz., quoted by People for the American Way . |
“Jurisdiction stripping” means limiting the role of the courts by preventing them from hearing certain types of cases — for example, by passing laws forbidding courts from hearing cases involving marriage, or disputes concerning church and state. Repeated threats and actual legislation to strip the courts of some of their authority pose a growing danger to the independence of our courts.
The goal behind jurisdiction stripping (also known as “court-stripping”) is to prevent the courts from enforcing constitutional rights for all Americans. This is essentially a power play designed, quite simply, to diminish the influence of the courts.
Of course, this is a significant invasion of the courts’ important role in protecting minority rights, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. In our constitutional system, courts act as a check on majority rule. When laws are unequal or punish minority groups, courts are the place we look to for relief.
Jurisdiction stripping threatens this balance, and threatens the Constitution, which is protected by the courts. Jurisdiction stripping is nothing less than an attack on our system of constitutional democracy.