Judicial expansion of presidential power defies Hamilton's reassurances

Judicial expansion of presidential power defies Hamilton's reassurances

Constitutional conversations about the Supreme Court often begin with Alexander Hamilton’s famous description of the judiciary in Federalist No. 78 as the “least dangerous branch,” precisely because the judicial branch lacks both the legislative power of the purse and the executive power of the sword. An ardent revolutionary, Hamilton had denounced in 1778 the behavior of English judges and “the t...