The Great John Marshall, Part 4
Marshall was not part of the “living constitution” project. He sought to interpret the Constitution according to “the intention of its makers.”
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The Great John Marshall, Part 3
There has been a effort in the law schools—and at times in the Supreme Court—to appropriate Marshall as a model for liberal activism.
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The Great John Marshall, Part 2
Modern accounts of the XYZ affair are bad enough, but they do not begin to capture the insulting nature of the repeated French demands.
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The Great John Marshall: Part 1
John Marshall helped secure adoption of the Constitution.
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John Marshall Refuted Claims that the Feds Have “Inherent Sovereign Authority”
Chief Justice John Marshall refuted “inherent sovereign authority” claims.
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Chief Justice John Marshall: Not the Big Government Guy You Might Think
Chief Justice John Marshall (in office 1801-1835) is often identified with an expansive “big government” interpretation of the Constitution. Fans
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Struggling With Nullification
Does a state have the right to nullify federal statutes the state considers unconstitutional? This depends largely on how you
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Did the Founders expect the Courts to Declare Laws Unconstitutional?
Every so often I’m asked whether the Founders anticipated judicial review. In other words, whether the Founders expected the courts
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The greatly misunderstood Chief Justice John Marshall
One of the most enduring myths in American constitutional history is that Chief Justice John Marshall was a judicial activist
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