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Doctrine of Judicial Review

In 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall decided the case of Marbury v. Madison. That decision remains influential today because it set a precedent for the doctrine of judicial review. Marshall ruled that Marbury had a right to his federal appointment (which Secretary James Madison did not want to give him) under the Judiciary Act of 1803, but that the act itself was unconstitutional and therefore invalid. This decision, plus the Constitution, are the foundations of the Supreme Court's right to review acts of Congress and to abolish them if it decides they are "repugnant to" the Constitution.

Marshall based his decision on the premises that the Constitution was set forth as the will of the people and was designed to be permanent. Further, the Constitution contains specific limits on the powers of Congress and gives the judiciary the power to review cases in which an ordinary act of Congress and the Constitution conflict. Thus, he argues, when Congress creates a law which conflicts with the Constitution, it is going beyond the limits imposed on it by the Constitution (and therefore by the people), so if the judiciary were to allow such an act to stand unchallenged it would effectively render the Constitution meaningless because its sanctions would have no practical force. Marshall maintains that this proves that in cases where an act of Congress and the Constitution conflict, the Constitution must be considered superior by the Court, since no ordinary law is necessarily either reflective of the will of the people or designed to be permanent.

Marshall also points out that it is the proper duty of the judiciary to expound and interpret the law; its power is specifically extended (by the Constitution) to encompass all cases which involve the Constitution. From this he infers that it is impossible that the Framers' original intent was that the Supreme Court should decide a case involving a Constitutional question without examining ...

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Doctrine of Judicial Review. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 13:44, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1683890.html