A sovereign power has “absolute sovereignty” if it has the unlimited right to control everything and every kind of activity in its territory. It is not restricted by a constitution, the laws of its predecessors, or by custom. No areas of law or behavior are considered outside its control. You are probably familiar with another name for this - a “dictatorship”.
Our founding fathers were committed to the principle that a government is legitimate only if it rests on “popular sovereignty”. A whole people, rather than a monarch or single individual, serves as the sovereign of a nation. Americans substituted the sovereignty of a person (a king) with a collective sovereign - composed of the people.
Benjamin Franklin expressed this concept when he wrote,
“In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.”In a republic, the sovereign power is founded in each individual person, not in the collective, as in a democracy.
The key element of sovereignty is that of exclusivity of jurisdiction. When a decision is made by a sovereign entity, it cannot generally be overruled by a higher authority. In the United States, the federal government and each state are considered sovereign.
Conflicts can arise between the federal and state governments (states rights) and between citizens and either the federal or a state government.
“De jure”, or legal, sovereignty is the theoretical right to exercise exclusive control over the populace.
“De facto”, or actual, sovereignty is concerned with whether control in fact exists.
Sovereignty requires not only the legal right to exercise power, but the actual exercise of such power.
“No de jure sovereignty without de facto sovereignty”.In other words, a government that legally claims sovereignty but is unable to enforce it, does not have sovereignty.
In a democracy, “majority rules”. In a republic, no majority can deprive a minority of their sovereign rights and powers.
One could argue that when the majority in Congress passed the Stimulus Package - ignoring the wishes of the minority party - they were depriving them of their sovereign rights and powers. A debate was not allowed on the legislation and the minority party was not able to voice their opinion or suggest revisions.
“Sovereign immunity ”, is immunity from being sued in the course of an action the government is empowered to perform. This must be waived to permit suit against the government.
In the case of the Stimulus Package, although I would like to think that the minority party could sue the majority party for depriving their sovereign rights, sovereign immunity could deny this. A Federal Court would probably have to rule on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment