ABSTRACT
In the United States, the Constitution alone is supreme. In America, government is kept within bounds, not only by the electoral process but also through separation of powers, federalism, and judicial review—the authority of courts to set aside actions of another branch of government which, in the judges' view, conflict with the Constitution. Supreme Court justices and other federal judges enjoy substantial independence from outside political control. More important than judicial review of acts of Congress is the control federal courts exercise over state laws and court decisions. Closely related to external and internal checks on judicial power is the question of the finality of Supreme Court decisions. A long-standing consensus that the Supreme Court is the chief if not the only expositor of the Constitution dissolves over the question of how judges are supposed to interpret the Constitution. The pervasiveness of judicial power is now one of the most conspicuous aspects of the American political system.
