Monday, June 21, 2021

If Judicial Review is unconstitutional, what happens if judges say a law should be repealed?

To:Doug Gibbs
When does a law become "unconstitutional"? in the absence of Judicial Review, what are the steps? 

What does the world look like without Marbary vs Madison?  Imagine it disappears, then what? 

Is it strictly nullification at that point and by who? 

Sincerely, 

Joseph

My Answer:

If a judicial opinion is rendered that a law is unconstitutional, the Congress would consider the opinion and determine if they agree with it.  It would then be the legislature's job to determine if to leave the law alone, modify it to make it constitutional, or repeal it altogether.  If the voters (and the State legislatures if they were appointing the Senators as originally intended) see their representatives not reversing unconstitutional laws, and are in agreement with the courts, then it would be the job of the voters and state legislatures to replace the offending representatives with people who are more constitutionally minded.  If the law remains, then the States still have the option to "nullify" the law, refusing to implement it or follow it since the States are the final arbiters of the U.S. Constitution.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not a bad answer, until the last sentence, which is just dreadfully wrong.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

The States created the federal government through their delegates, making them the parents of the federal government. The federal government was created to serve the States, and nullification as discussed by Jefferson in his original draft of the Kentucky Resolutions is absolutely a constitutional move.