I see in the news all the time so and so judge blocks this bill? How does one judge hold that much power?
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Laws have a hierarchy that they must follow, that is constitutional law overrides lower laws.
So for example if the constitution says “the state can’t make a law that prevents people from criticizing the president”, and then a city council somewhere tries making a law that says “Everyone who criticizes the president is to be hanged”, people will take that to court and a judge has to rule whether or not that second law is compatible with the first.
If they aren’t compatible, the judge has to be able to tell which one has priority, and then the other one is “blocked”.
Otherwise you’d have ridiculous situations like a city council in montana is making laws that are against the constitution and are applicable only in california.
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