Marbury vs Madison: Implications For Today….

The Supreme Court decision, Marbury vs Madison, is best known for its declaration, “… an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void.”

In other words, a law that violates the Constitution is unenforceable.

But Marbury v Madison does more than declare unConstitutional laws void.  It also declares that the only proper method  to understand and interpret the Constitution is Constitutional Constructionism with emphasis on original meaning. In dealing with the question of whether the legislature can change Constitutional rights just by passing laws, it notes, “But the peculiar expressions of the constitution of the United States furnish additional arguments in favour of its rejection.” This court case DESTROYS the idea that the Constitution is a “living document” that can be changed just by writing a new law.

This case is one of the most important ever decided by the SCOTUS: 

1) it declared that the federal government was to be limited in scope BY DESIGN (“This original and supreme will organizes the government, and assigns to different departments their respective powers. It may either stop here; or establish certain limits not to be transcended by those departments.

“The government of the United States is of the latter description. The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the constitution is written….”); 

2) it declares Constitutional constructionism/originalism to be the ONLY valid method to determine the Constitution’s meaning; 

3) it declares that the Constitution is NOT a “living document”, it is “a superior, paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means…”. It CAN be changed, but it must be changed CONSTITUTIONALLY - by means of the amendment process.

Every Constitutional constructionist/ originalist should have this opinion in their files, and it should be required reading for every government class AND EVERY LEGISLATOR WHO RAISES HIS/HER HAND AND SWEARS TO UPHOLD AND PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION.

The text can be found here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/5/137