To be specific, Marshall made it up and tried to force it on Madison and Jefferson...And both Madison and Jefferson opposed the ridiculous notion, noting the danger inherent in the suggestion that the federal government be allowed to determine the extent of its own powers. John Taylor of Caroline observed that the power to interpret the Constitution could never be separated from the power to amend it, or the power to amend would be completely destroyed (because any amendment could simply be 'interpreted' out of existence). The Constitution is quite clear regarding the power to amend – but it nowhere says the federal courts shall have the final say in constitutional interpretation...
;>)
...we got Mount SCOTUSYou are right about that. From John Taylor: "Is the court supreme over the constitution, or the constitution supreme over the court?"
IMO, the Constitution should be supreme over the court.
Justice Scalia observed:
"The Constitution of the United States nowhere says that the Supreme Court shall be the last word on what the Constitution means. Or that the Supreme Court shall have the authority to disregard statutes enacted by the congress of the United States on the ground that in its view they do not comport with the Constitution. It doesn't say that anywhere. We made it up."
Almost two centuries ago, a Jeffersonian republican asked a simple question:
Is the Constitution supreme over the court, or the court supreme over the Constitution?
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jwalsh07 wrote:
To be specific, Marshall made it up and tried to force it on MAdison and Jefferson. Madison and Jefferson told Marshall where to stick Marburys commission.
Actually Scalia is wrong and so are you two.
Marshall said that acts repugnant to our constitutuion are void.
IE, -- the simple words of the Constitution are supreme over ~everyone~ ; -- courts, legislatures, and the executive.
Marshall didn't 'make it up' he reasoned that:
"-- it is apparent, that the framers of the constitution contemplated that instrument as a rule for the government of courts, as well as of the legislature. ---
--- Thus, the particular phraseology of the constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument."
John Marshall, 1803
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Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Address:
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/9.htm