General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Thom Hartmann spanked a couple of DU'ers today on his show - [View all]DefenseLawyer
(11,101 posts)Given that, you know, HE WROTE IT!
He also wrote, in Federalist No. 16, that the success of a constitution in any degree competent to its own defence, and of a people enlightened enough to distinguish between a legal exercise and an illegal usurpation of authority . . . would require not merely a factious majority in the legislature, but the concurrence of the courts of justice, and of the body of the people. To be fair Madison never once gave us weather and traffic at the top of the hour, so take what he says with a grain of salt.
Alexander Hamilton knew a tad bit about the Constitution as well (though very little about the healing powers of ginseng). In Federalist No. 78 he wrote that limitations on legislative authority and affirmative guarantees of liberty can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of the courts of justice; whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of the particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.