The People Made The Constitution, And 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.

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 Federal Government Is Acknowledged By All To Be One Of Enumerated Powers. The Principle, That It Can Exercise Only The Powers Granted To It . . . Is Now Universally Admitted.

The Particular Phraseology Of The Constitution Of The United States Confirms And Strengthens The Principle, Supposed To Be Essential To All Written Constitutions, That A Law Repugnant To The Constitution Is Void; And That Courts, As Well As Other Departments, Are Bound By That Instrument.

Between A Balanced Republic And A Democracy, The Difference Is Like That Between Order And Chaos.