The origin and justification of judicial review Essay

The origin and justification of judicial review - Essay Example Many people did not believe in giving the judiciary such powers and authority. Since the institution of the American constitution, the judicial system was given the mandate to oversight the activities of the state government. The statutes and states’ constitutions could not, under the observation of the judicial system, go against the supreme law of the land. This supreme law is the American constitution. However, one issue that the framers of the American constitution did not provide a solution for is whether the federal courts had any oversight power over the congress and the executive. Upholding congressional acts in the early years of the republic somehow confirmed the existence of judicial review. However, it was still unclear, until 1803, whether the judiciary had any power to similarly strike down the acts. In 1803, the chief justice John Marshall ruled an act of congress unconstitutional. In his argument, the duty of the Supreme Court and the judicial system is largely to declare the law. According ti him, therefore, a statutory, congressional of even executive act that is against this law must be deemed unconstitutional and the constitution must prevail. In another instance, the judicial review was applied once more before the civil war. The Supreme Court, in 1857, ruled the Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. It is also at around the same time that several statutory acts were struck down by the Supreme Court. In addition, concerns were raised after the Civil War on the Fourteenth Amendment which gave the federal government unnecessary powers over the state governments. This being an executive was again struck down. This further confirmed the stability of the judiciary and its impartiality in applying the power bestowed on it. This exercise of power has however not been wit hout political opposition. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Supreme Court was repeatedly