We're not talking about the power to overturn every judicial decision, just those in which an individual's rights have been violated or otherwise denied and in which the judicial branch is the one doing the violating. If not congress or the president, to whom then can this person turn?
BTW, jude, contrary to what legal scholars think, Marbury v. Madison was not written by the hand of God. It is a judicial fiction. It carries weight only because Congress and the president have not seen fit to overrule it.
But the constitution clearly gives the congress the power to do so by limiting the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts. They know it could touch off a constitutional crisis. But there are times when a constitutional crisis is what is needed.
Every party that loses a lawsuit will claim that. There's never been a losing party that said, "Yeah, I got a fair shake from the law. I lost because I had a crappy case." No, they generally find more and more spurious arguments to claim its unconstitutional.
[Marbury v. Madison] carries weight only because Congress and the president have not seen fit to overrule it.
That's because it is clearly Constitutional reasoning. How could the Supreme Court be expected to adjudicate cases "arising under the Constitution," as it is expressly authorized to do, and not have the authority of judicial review? This was Marshall's reasoning in Marbury, and as far as I can see, its unassailable
Secondly, it has never been overruled because, like political parties, it has become an integrated part of the political landscape. Our system would not function without it.