Special Aspects of Manifestation of the Principle of Supremacy of Law in the USA

In: State power and local self-government, S. 45-49

Abstract

Despite the fact that the United States belongs to the Anglo-Saxon legal family, the principle of the rule of law finds its manifestation in the constitutional text, political and legal practice and the legal doctrine of this country. The features of the manifestation of this principle in the United States are that, in addition to the positive enumeration of the legislative powers of the United States Congress, the US Constitution contains a number of exceptions from the competence of the legislator, established in order to limit the arbitrariness of the legislator and protect the values of constitutionalism. While officially the country adheres to the "non-delegation doctrine", according to which only the United States Congress is endowed with the right of legislative power, in practice it is common to use the delegation of law-making powers to executive bodies. The ratio of legislative and judicial acts remains unique due to the historical emergence of the law of this country in the depths of precedents. The specificity is manifested in the fact that the statutes are more specific and substantive, they are characterized by a large volume and complexity, and judges, when applying them, try to follow a literal narrow interpretation of legislative provisions. The rule of law in the United States is not limited to ensuring formal legality, therefore, the state's desire to implement the "rule of law", the justice of which, first of all, must be ensured by judges, is doctrinally substantiated. However, the fairness of the country's regulations are in many cases called into question due to the ineffectiveness of the legislation and aggressive foreign policy.