Today we look back at John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. Dominating the Court for over three decades (1801-1835), Marshall helped lay the basis for US Constitutional law. Among his insights:
“It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. . . . If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each. . . . This is of the very essence of judicial duty.”