What is the rationale you would prefer the court to have taken?
Marshall actually goes one step further. Not only is the court powerless to hear because of COTUS, but how the 1789 act is written, congress violated the separation of powers and encroached into the judiciary.
Constitutionally speaking, Marshall didn't have much choice but to strike the judiciary act down.
This is where the dishonesty of progressivism becomes so glaring. Progressives tell us that the Marshall court usurped, when it seems that the court merely prevented congressional usurpation without leaving its own proper sphere. The whole point of separate powers is for each branch to fight back if the other steps out of line, and seek a return to balance.(or at least one of the major points)
Marshall never once claims that he is greater than the constitution; likewise Marshall never claims that the supreme court is greater than the constitution or congress. Even including those 17 words that the progressives are so fond of taking out of context. But he does explicitly state at least once if not several times: You people in the congress are not greater than the constitution, so sit back down. He also explicitly states that the constitution is above both congress and the court.
The court was wrong to presume upon itself the power to declare an act of Congress to be “unconstitutional.