The idea for this blog site originated when former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was invited to be a visiting lecturer for the 2009 spring semester at the University of Georgia Law School.
Gingrich decided that he would design a course whose primary purpose is to explore historical legal and non-legal materials to determine ifjudicial supremacy constitutes a fundamental violation of American constitutional thinking, a radical departure from the constitutional system that the Founding Fathers invented, and a dangerous model for the survival of a free society.
An additional aim for the course is to explore arguments for why it is important both intellectually and for the health of the country to return to a more modest sense of the role of the judiciary.
Since the balance of powers among the three branches of government is so elemental to the defense of the rule of law in this country, Gingrich’s staff decided that it would be enormously helpful in clarifying the issues arising out of the subject matter of the course if a blog site could be created that could receive input from interested parties across the country, including law students, law professors, practicing lawyers, and undergraduate students and professors of political science.
This blog starts off as an experiment to see if a national debate can be engaged on these important questions and whether this blog can serve effectively as a widely shared clearinghouse of facts, history, research, news, analysis, and dialogue on the question of which is better for the country: judicial supremacy or co-equal branches.
Lecture 1, 1/27/09 Topics include Cooper v. Aaron and the historical context of the colonists attitudes towards British judges.
Audio: Download mp3 file (To save on your computer, right-click the link and select “Save As” or “Save Target As”)
Video: First Lecture
Lecture 2, 2/3/09 Topics include Marbury v. Madison and further historical context of Jeffersonian departmentalism vs judicial supremacy.
Audio: Download mp3 file (To save on your computer, right-click the link and select “Save As” or “Save Target As”)
Video: Second Lecture
