Changes

===Marbury v. Madison===

===Marbury v. Madison===

[[Marbury v. Madison]], decided in 1803, ruled for the government (that is, Madison), by deciding a minor law passed by Congress was unconstitutional.  Ironically what was unconstitutional was Congress' granting a certain power o the Supreme Court itself. The case allowed Marshall to proclaim the doctrine of judicial review, which reserves to the Supreme Court final authority to judge whether or not actions of the president or of the Congress are within the powers granted to them by the Constitution. The Constitution itself is the supreme law, and when the Court believes that a specific law or action is in violation of it, the Court must uphold the Constitution and set aside that other law or action.  The Constitution does not explicitly give judicial review to the Court, and Jefferson was very angry with Marshall's position, for Jefferson, president at the time, wanted the president to decide whether his acts were constitutional or not.  Historians mostly agree  that the Founding Fathers Constitution did plan for the Supreme Court to have some sort of judicial review; what Marshall did was make operationalize their goals. Judicial review was not new and Marshall himself mentioned it in the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788. Marshall's opinion expressed and fixed in the American tradition and legal system a more basic theory, '''government under law'''. That i, judicial review means a government in which no person (not even the president) and no institution (not even Congress), nor even a majority of voters, may freely work their will in violation of the written Constitution.  Marshall himself never declared another act of Congress or of a president unconstitutional.

[[Marbury v. Madison]], decided in 1803, ruled for the government (that is, Madison), by deciding a minor law passed by Congress was unconstitutional.  Ironically what was unconstitutional was Congress granting a certain power to the Supreme Court itself. The case allowed Marshall to proclaim the doctrine of judicial review, which reserves to the Supreme Court final authority to judge whether or not actions of the president or of the Congress are within the powers granted to them by the Constitution. The Constitution itself is the supreme law, and when the Court believes that a specific law or action is in violation of it, the Court must uphold the Constitution and set aside that other law or action.  The Constitution does not explicitly give judicial review to the Court, and Jefferson was very angry with Marshall's position, for Jefferson, president at the time, wanted the president to decide whether his acts were constitutional or not.  Historians mostly agree  that the Founding Fathers Constitution did plan for the Supreme Court to have some sort of judicial review; what Marshall did was make operationalize their goals. Judicial review was not new and Marshall himself mentioned it in the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788. Marshall's opinion expressed and fixed in the American tradition and legal system a more basic theory, '''government under law'''. That i, judicial review means a government in which no person (not even the president) and no institution (not even Congress), nor even a majority of voters, may freely work their will in violation of the written Constitution.  Marshall himself never declared another act of Congress or of a president unconstitutional.

===McCulloch v. Maryland===

===McCulloch v. Maryland===