Marbury vs Madison
(20-a) 1803: Marbury v. Madison: In this opinion by the Supreme Court very early in our Republic, SCOTUS gave to itself the final say on all matters of government–it gave itself supremacy over both of the Executive and the Legislative branches. So much for “co-equal branches of government.” Judicial supremacy is NOT in the Constitution, but we have been stuck with it as precedent ever since 1803, and it has led to what I would call the glorification of the courts. But to make matters worse, judges and SCOTUS justices are not responsible to the voters. On the contrary, judges at the district court and appellate level, as well as the highest level, the Supreme Court, are appointed for life. As a result, we suffer under what I and others have called “judicial tyranny.” And judicial tyranny was one of the points that Jefferson complained to the King of England about in our Declaration of Independence, and that we fought a war of revolution to end. Because of Marbury v. Madison, in my opinion, judicial tyranny has become part of our constitutional tradition. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed this Supreme Court opinion. They were right then, and Marbury v. Madison is still wrong today. It has never been overturned, and we’d be fools to believe that any Supreme Court will overturn an opinion that granted such enormous power to itself.
