is called constitutional law. Under constitutional law, the courts review the actions of the state or federal government in relation to specific clauses of the Constitution. In Article VI of the Constitution, the Founders established that the Constitution “and the Laws of the United States…shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby.” Hence state laws as well as federal statutes and executive actions must conform to the Constitution as the courts interpret it. In framing and ratifying the Constitution, Americans adopted the idea that theirs was a government of laws. The rule of law promised predictability in American lives by placing limits on the power that the government exercised. Applying checks and balances prevented one branch of government from gaining too much power. The Founders tried to ensure that laws were fairly created and enforced for everyone. Research institutions in most of the world classify American politics as a subfield of comparative politics. However, political scientists usually organize the study of their own country into a separate field, so within the United States, American politics is recognized as its own specialty. Given the size of the United States and the number of students who study U.S. politics in colleges and universities, the American politics subfield is very large. Political scientists interested in American politics often study the Congress of the United States, judicial politics, constitutional law, the presidency, state and local politics, voting and elections, and American political history.Many other types of law exist in the world. Certainly for the writers of the Constitution, the concept of natural law was essential. They agreed with the ideas expressed by 17th-century English philosopher John Locke. He believed that all individuals are equal and independent, and that they create an organized government in order to prot...
