Opinion ID: 1885183
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: The Function of the Judiciary

Text: The trial court lacks jurisdiction because the judiciary's definitive function is to resolve disputes or controversiesnot to make policy pronouncements on what the courts have termed nonjusticiable political questions. We must define the judiciary's function in order to follow the Alabama Constitution: The powers of the government of the State of Alabama shall be divided into three distinct departments, each of which shall be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: Those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another. Ala. Const.1901, § 42. In the government of this state, except in the instances in this Constitution hereinafter expressly directed or permitted, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men.  Ala. Const.1901, Art. 3, § 43 (emphasis added). Any Alabama court that goes beyond its authority not only infringes upon the authority of another branch of government but also subverts the very foundation of our constitutional system. This separation-of-powers principle is derived from our federal Constitution. In his 1796 farewell address as President, George Washington recognized the importance of maintaining that separation: It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. George Washington, Farewell Address, Documents of Freedom 50 (2d ed.1979). Washington concisely stated some key concepts and invested them with peculiar importance. The encroachment of one power or branch upon the powers of another tends toward despotism. The necessity for checks and balances among the separate branches stems not from some formality or technical procedural requirement but from the very nature of the human heart and its love for power. Therefore, constant vigilance against such encroachment in civil government will always be necessary. And lastly, he explains in one sentence that although the encroachment may seem to remedy an urgent wrong, the precedent of giving, by mere acquiescence to the judiciary, too much power to one branch always leads to an even greater wrongthe loss of the balance of power in a constitutional government. The final word as to fixing the constitution is always with the people. The order issued by the trial judge on March 31, 1993, violated this delicate separation of powers by encroaching upon the duty of the Legislature to make law and policy regarding education in Alabama under Amendment 111 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901. In doing so, the trial judge was without subject-matter jurisdiction of the case.