Jefferson Warns of the Judiciary

In the last half century the Supreme Court has been fairly active in limiting religious expression and recognition in the government sphere (at all levels). Thomas Jefferson, whose metaphor "separation of church and state" is often used by the Court, wrote a letter to William Jarvis on September 28, 1820. Jefferson stated:

"You seem... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the deposition of an oligarchy."

As found in Jefferson's Letters, Wilson Whitman, ed. (Eau Claire, WI; E.M. Hale & Co.) 1900, p.338