Originally Posted by
Flash
It is according to Federalist No. 78.
"The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body."
"W]here the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are not fundamental. . . "
This recognizes the principal of judicial review and the role of the courts in interpreting the Constitution which is supreme over laws and the will of the people.
there is no way you can reconcile the debates of the framers to mean that they gave the power of their newly built government to define it's powers. They were adamant about the new government being restricted as much as possible with the few prescribed powers that they were given.
A sad commentary on we, as a people, and our viewpoint of our freedom can be summed up like this. We have liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, yet those very people look at Constitutionalists as radical and extreme.................so those liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans must believe that the constitution is radical and extreme.
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