Validating State Laws - Brutus XII (Continued)

In the second part of Brutus XII, he continues a discussion on the Judicial Branch and how it will eliminate the States altogether.

Brutus XII (Part II)

February 14, 1788

In the second part of Brutus XII the author digs deeper into why the Constitution will permit the Judicial Branch to eliminate the States.

Written a week after the first part, this edition is more concise but contains very little substance.

It is mostly concerned with the courts taking control of all civil cases.

A Voluminous Writer

Early in this Paper, Brutus criticizes “A voluminous writer in favor of this system” for implying the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution is nothing to worry about.

This is an obvious jab at The Federalist which was being written at exactly the same time.

He notes that Publis (at the time and unbeknownst to Brutus, Alexander Hamilton) was indicating that the same thing was implied elsewhere in the Constitution.

Brutus’ point was that it is bad. Having it in more than one spot doesn’t make it good.

Civil Cases

Brutus then spends most of the Paper discussing civil cases in court.

He is pretty stuck on the idea that only civil cases between members of the same State are overseen within States.

He actually acknowledges that all civil cases should be handled by Federal Courts and that, eventually, “to establish justice” the State Courts will cede these powers.

This will, however, eventually permit the Federal Courts to “decide upon the validity of the laws of any of the states.”

Brutus uses this to reiterate the point from his previous Essay, that the Federal Courts will eventually make the State Governments obsolete.

This series is only part of my regular publications, so…

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Here is a link to the earlier Essays of Brutus I have covered: