In a two-page (total) response, answer the following questions.
Is the judiciary really an equal branch of government with the executive and legislative branches? Alexander
Hamilton, who favored a strong central government, wrote in the Federalist Papers that he thought it the
weakest of the three branches. Only thirty years after the ratification of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson
wrote: “Our government is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction; to
wit: by consolidation first and then corruption, it’s necessary consequence. The engine of consolidation will be
the Federal judiciary; the two other branches the corrupting and corrupted instruments.”1 We’ve seen an
expansion of civil rights protection but also of the strength and scope of federal government power over the
course of US history. The federal judiciary has no control over the purse or the sword, and the justices and
judges owe their jobs to politicians in the other two branches. The president selects the Supreme Court justices
and federal judges generally based on ideological criteria and the Senate, even when dominated by the
opposing party, tends to confirm the president’s nominees. Would the president nominate and the Senate
confirm judicial candidates who do not tend to favor the expansion of government power at least in some
areas? Be sure to provide examples when answering these questions. How are the three branches supposed
to check and balance each other if they are not equal?
Refer to the Paper Assignment directions in the Syllabus for detailed instructions and writing resources.
See:
Federalist #78 (Links to an external site.)
“Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Macon, 1821,” in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition,
Lipscomb and Berg, eds., 20 Vols., (Washington, D.C.: 1903-1904), 15:341.
in-line citations are not allowed. Failure to include footnotes will seriously impact your paper grades throughout
the course. Footnotes are not only for quotes, but for every time you have a factual statement in your paper
you obtained from one of your sources. Thus, your paper should have many footnotes. Other things to
remember for future papers are to use a proper title block, page numbers, and use proper paragraphs (your
first page was a run-on paragraph containing multiple topics). In the future, make sure to have a minimum of
three sources, including your text. Please read the instructions for the assignment, my announcement
concerning footnotes and contact me if you would like to discuss this assignment.

Sample Solution