“Sentimento do Mundo” – On the Endless Battle for a Justice System

In the summer of 1787, New Yorkers were about to ratify a constitution for the US. In a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788 urged New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. The essays (commonly referred to as the Federalist Papers) were published anonymously, under the pen name “Publius,” in various New York state newspapers of the time. On May 28, 1788, Alexander Hamilton published Federalist 78, titled “The Judicial Department.” In this famous essay, he offered a powerful defense of judicial review. Hamilton argued that only a federal judge could guarantee constitutional rights and provide an effective check on state power. At the same time, Hamilton had to convince his political opponents that the unelected judiciary would never dominate the other branches of government. Drawing on the ideas of Montesquieu, he deliberately portrayed the judiciary as “the least dangerous branch of government”. A branch that is inherently weak because it can control neither the country’s financial resources nor the army.