Political Control in the Courts

Dictatorship versus Democracy

By: Brian Risman

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

We are experiencing a sense of déjà vu. The era of Totalitarian Authoritarians, which we thought had been largely eliminated as a major factor at the end of the Second World War, has made a comeback. Why has this resurgence of dictatorship occurred? What is even more frightening is that this growth of dictatorship has been led by ostensibly democratic systems, largely in the United States and Europe. One of the major targets of any dictatorship is the Judiciary. If the authoritarian regime is successful in making the Judiciary cower in weakness, then, as we saw in Nazi Germany, the Judiciary becomes a tool and puppet of the regime – instead of being a check on the regime by defending the Rule of Law, Due Process, and the power of the Judiciary in preserving the Rights of the Individual.