Where Have I Been?

I must've spent the last number of years living under a rock.  I don't remember rallies and demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court building as being commonplace.  Whatever happened to having a sense of decorum about things?  Or even a rudimentary knowledge of how our government is set up?

The "Separation of Powers" doctrine enshrined in the Constitution was intended, at least in part, to protect the Judiciary from being influenced by the political winds of the day, or by the vagaries of public opinion.

These demonstrations by illegal aliens (undocumented workers) on the very steps of the Court is an obscenity that should never be allowed.  What?  Self-avowed criminals demanding "rights" on the very steps of the highest court in the land?  Where's the law enforcement?  These people have been led to believe that they have rights they do not.  The rights, privileges, and obligations of citizens are reserved to legal citizens only.

The 1st Amendment protections for speech and assembly and to petition government for redress of grievances apply more properly to the Legislative and Executive branches of government.  The institutions of Congress and the Office of the Presidency are directly representative of the electorate.  As such, they have a duty and obligation to be responsive to the peoples' concerns, with-in the bounds of Constitutional limits.  The Judiciary is different.  Particularly at the level of the State Supreme Courts and certainly at the level of SCOTUS.

Just as the Executive and Legislative branches serve as checks and balances on the potential abuse of power by each, so too is the Judicial branch meant as a check and balance on them both.  It is the primary duty of the Supreme Court to rein in the excesses of government in order to protect the citizens against encroachment on their individual rights by unconstitutional government power grabs.

It is crucial that Justices be immune to political and populist pressures.  The Judiciary was set apart from the rest of government expressly for that purpose.   Supreme Court justices are given lifetime appointments to insulate them from such pressures.  These judges do NOT have any direct obligation to the populace.  Their duty is to the country as a whole, through absolute fidelity to the law of the land: the Constitution of the United States of America.  In light of this most solemn of legal obligations, our President's blatant attempt to influence court decisions is particularly troubling.