It Is The Peculiar Province Of The

Certainly All Those Who Have Framed Written Constitutions Contemplate Them As Forming The Fundamental And Paramount Law Of The Nation, And Consequently The Theory Of Every Such Government Must Be, That An Act Of The Legislature, Repugnant To The Constitution, Is Void.

No Political Dreamer Was Ever Wild Enough To Think Of Breaking Down The Lines Which Separate The States And Compounding The American People Into One Common Mass.

Whether A Law Be Void For Its Repugnancy To The Constitution, Is, At All Times, A Question Of Much Delicacy, Which Out Seldom, If Ever, To Be Decided In The Affirmative, In Doubtful Case. ... But It Is Not On Slight Implication And Vague Conjecture That The Legislature Is To Be Pronounced To Have Transcended Its Powers, And Its Acts To Be Considered As Void. The Opposition Between The Constitution And The Law Should Be Such That The Judge Feels A Clear And Strong Conviction Of Their Incompatibility With Each Other.

The Power To Tax Is The Power To Destroy.

A Corporation Is An Artificial Being, Invisible, Intangible, And Existing Only In Contemplation Of Law.