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| | == "judicial review" == | | == "judicial review" == |
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| | + | What did Justice Kennedy mean when he referred to "judicial review"? |
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| | + | "Judicial review" is the doctrine implied by the U.S. Constitution that authorizes the federal courts (ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court) to review the constitutionality of a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, and for the federal courts to invalidate that law if the courts consider it to be unconstitutional. |
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| | + | This power of judicial review was first asserted by the U.S. Supreme Court, then led by its Chief Justice John Marshall, in the famous case of ''Marbury v. Madison'' (1803). ''Marbury v. Madison'' is the perhaps the most important decision ever issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, because it grabbed for itself the power to overrule what the other two branches decided to do. |
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| | + | Unusual, almost comical, facts resulted in the case. After the bitter election of 1800, when John Adams lost his reelection to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams had a "lame duck" period of several months when he was still in power. In the final moments of his lame duck period, he appointed an unusually large number of justices of peace (low-level, local judges) in the District of Columbia. Their commissions (salaries) were approved by the U.S. Senate and signed with an official seal by President Adams, '''''but not delivered prior to Adams leaving his office of president''''' When Thomas Jefferson took office, he ordered his Secretary of State (James Madison) not to deliver the commissions, so the Adams-appointed justices of peace would not be paid. Then Jefferson could use that money to pay the salaries of the people he would appoint to government positions. |
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| | + | One of those judges, Marbury, sued Madison to obtain Marbury's commission. The U.S. Supreme Court had to decide whether it would rule for Marbury (and Adams), or the current President Jefferson's administration. |
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| | + | Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the decision for the U.S. Supreme Court, and ruled for Jefferson (his Secretary of State Madison), so Jefferson was pleased. But the basis of Marshall's decision was that the federal law which brought the case before the Court was unconstitutional. In other words, the Supreme Court invalidated a law passed by Congress and signed by a president, in order to rule for Jefferson. Jefferson could not complain much because he won, but the basis of the ruling made the Court more powerful than both Congress and the president by authorizing the Court to invalidate their laws. |
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| | + | An everyday example are compliments that are actually rude. For example, suppose Joe is choosing sides for basketball and he picks a player by saying, "I want to be on my team because I want to hog the ball and I want lousy teammates." At first you might be happy you are picked, but before long you'll realize that you were picked by someone who wanted more power for himself. |
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| | + | Jefferson was not shy about applying a "check and balance" to the courts if he lost. After all, it was Jefferson who sought (unsuccessfully) to impeach U.S. Supreme Court Samuel Chase. |
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| | == "federalism" == | | == "federalism" == |