To: Rockingham
However true, therefore, it may be, that the judicial department is, in all questions submitted to it by the forms of the Constitution, to decide in the last resort, this resort must necessarily be deemed the last in relation to the authorities of the other departments of the government; not in relation to the rights of the parties to the constitutional compact, from which the judicial, as well as the other departments, hold their delegated trusts. On any other hypothesis, the delegation of judicial power would annul the authority delegating it; and the concurrence of this department with the others in usurped powers, might subvert forever, and beyond the possible reach of any rightful remedy, the very Constitution which all were instituted to preserve. James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolutions ----
The Supreme Court was to decide what constitutional for the other branches of the federal government, not what is constitutional for the States.
33 posted on
04/01/2012 5:43:44 AM PDT by
MamaTexan
(I am a ~Person~ as created by the Law of Nature, not a 'person' as created by the laws of Man)
To: MamaTexan
The line of thinking — nullification — is simply unworkable because it would permit states to opt out of the Constitution when they pleased.
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