Open Access
Judicial activism and the American election process
Author(s) -
Paweł Laidler
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
politologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2545-1618
DOI - 10.21697/p.7281
Subject(s) - politics , political science , judicial activism , law , constitution , campaign finance , government (linguistics) , election law , judicial review , judicial opinion , compliance (psychology) , law and economics , sociology , democracy , psychology , social psychology , philosophy , linguistics
This article analyses the phenomenon of judicial activism in the American electoral process. It tries to estimate whether the political system of the United States of America has become hostage to the law-making role of the judiciary, which actively controls the compliance of election laws with the Constitution, thus drawing courts into purely political processes, or whether the nature of the disputes settled by judges rather makes it impossible for them to avoid being influenced by and influencing issues of a political nature. The article analyses various legal acts and court decisions, mostly concerning the current status of federal campaign finance in the United States, and demonstrates that more spheres traditionally reserved for other branches of government are being appropriated by the judicial branch.