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To: GOPcapitalist
Your analogy is irrelevent to the issue since Souter was not a conservative converted by Stevens. Jefferson himself decried arguing with Marshall by saying that one could not grant him a single point else you were lost because of his "twistifications" (I do like Jefferson's tendency to make up words.)

Marshall and Hamilton were the greatest legal minds of their day and likely any other.

Luther Martin left the Convention before it ended and did not help write the constitution. However, he did wind up a member of the Federalist Party because he couldn't stand Jefferson. It is unlikely that Webster's argument had much influence on Marshall's decision in Marbury.
818 posted on 09/11/2003 7:24:07 AM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree. Bush must be destroyed.)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
Your analogy is irrelevent to the issue since Souter was not a conservative converted by Stevens.

Actually the general belief is that Souter was pulled to the hard left through his companionship with Brennan. So perhaps that would be a more specifically applicable analogy, but the point it conveys is still the same.

Marshall and Hamilton were the greatest legal minds of their day and likely any other.

Not really. They were good but not the greatest ever. They are both dwarfed by Blackstone, among others. They are also surpassed when one considers law through areas of legal specification. The legendary courtroom greats like Felix Grundy and Luther Martin come to mind in that realm. The philosophical lawyers like Lysander Spooner and to some extent St. George Tucker classify as the greats in another realm, and so forth

Luther Martin left the Convention before it ended and did not help write the constitution.

Martin was present throughout most of the major debates and is generally credited with ensuring that the Senate had equal representation for each state - a provision he inserted into the committee compromises that led to the design of the senate. He departed late from the convention in protest to prepare to fight it in Maryland. Throughout the summer he was one of the most frequent speakers in the general session per Madison's notes.

821 posted on 09/11/2003 8:23:26 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist
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