Commentary: I Don't Just Interpret the Law, I Make It

I was reading an article yesterday about the Legislature's latest attempt to fund schools in a way that is acceptable to the State Supreme Court, and I began to wonder how the courts wound up being the ones in charge of this country? After all, I believe it was Alexander Hamilton who wrote that the courts would be the weakest of the three branches of government. Instead, what we're seeing is that some judges (or groups of judges), who are almost always unelected and serve for life, taking control of this country. No law can exist but by their permission, and if an acceptable law can't be passed, they eventually mandate their own. Granted, there are good judges out there, and they perform their duties in the correct way, interpreting the laws on the books. However, there are other judges who seem to spend most of their time telling the other branches of government how to do their job. Here in Kansas, a good example is the school funding case. The courts have struck down the state's school finance formula as unconstitutional. That in itself is fine, but instead of stopping there as they should have done, the courts basically set a deadline for the formula to be fixed or they (the state Supreme Court) would step in and set the formula itself. This second action by the court would be completely out of bounds.
Yes, if the Legislature acts contrary to existing law, the courts have every right to say to the Legislature, "You've contradicted yourself, try again." However, when the court goes from saying, "Sorry, try again," to ordering the way a law is to be written, this is a violation of the separation of powers clause. The courts are never supposed to write law. They are only to interpret the existing laws, not force the Legislature to write laws certain ways. But what's happening now is just that -- the courts are on the verge of writing law. And they are basically telling the Legislature what they (the Legislature) meant when they wrote the current laws. That seems kind of odd to me.
Something needs to be done, but I'm not sure what remedies exist. The only check that the Legislature has on the Judiciary is impeachment. I don't know if impeachment is an appropriate or practical step. Maybe the best bet is for the governor to appoint judges who have a clear record of not overstepping their Constitutional bounds.
For now, though, I'm afraid that the Legislature has little choice but to do its best to fund schools. After that, maybe we can find some way to keep the three branches balanced in their powers.