ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two different roles that should be played by the judicial system in this country in suits alleging human rights violations by the United States government. The first role that courts could play in such suits is as a moral check on our political institutions, but, more importantly, on the American citizenry itself. The second role is that the courts could much better serve as a political and institutional check than they have to date. The chapter also explores a much different issue, and a much different function for courts to play in human rights litigation such as SanchezEspinoza. Gabriel Almond, one of the pioneering scholars in this area, describes the gap between the democratic ideal and the reality of public ignorance the "democratic myth." There are inherent limitations in modem society on the capacity of the public to understand the issues and grasp the significance of the most important problems of public policy.
