Chief Justice John Marshal's Judicial Review

1. INTRODUCTION

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is."
—Chief Justice John Marshal

Judicial review was seldom used before the 20th century and the power of the Supreme Court only evolved over time, through a series of milestone cases. Judicial review is one of the courts most fundamental powers wherein the judge has the power to evaluate the constitutionality of any act or law of the executive or legislative branch Marbury v. Madison,1803 laying the foundation for the Court's ability to render its decisions about laws and actions was indeed a landmark judgement which established the power of judicial review and established one of the cornerstones of the American constitutional system.

2. BACKGROUND
2.1 FACTS

In the election of 1800, the newly organised Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson defeated the Federalist party of John Adams, creating an atmosphere of political panic. During his final days he made several appointments in Judiciary for the district of
There were two landmark judgements by the U.S. Supreme Court served to confirm and uphold the constitutional authority for judicial review in USA being: Hylton v. United States was the first case decided by the Supreme Court involving a direct challenge to the constitutionality and the second being the case of Marbury v Madison wherein the Court asserted its authority for judicial review to strike down a law as unconstitutional. At the end of his opinion in this decision Chief Justice John Marshall maintained that the Supreme Court's responsibility to overturn unconstitutional legislation was a necessary consequence of their sworn oath of office to uphold the Constitution as instructed in Article Six of the