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Federal Judges Taking Separation of Powers Seriously

Contrary to popular prosecutorial belief, a federal judge's duties include more than, "Do what DOJ tells you to do."  According to the Constitution, federal judges must serve as adversaries to prosecutors.  Power must check power in our system of separated powers.  In the Federalist No. 51, James Madison wrote: In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).