Constitutional Supremacy Quotes
In a 1949 dissenting opinion in Terminiello v. Chicago Jackson claimed the majority view would “convert the Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.”
She was explaining her antipathy to Muslim Fundamentalists having French citizenship or even sing allowed into the country.
One of the conundrums of our constitutional system is who has the last word as to what the Constitution means. Essentially it is the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. But there are those who believe that the current popular majority should have a say in what is or is not constitutional. If so the legislative branch should have the last word. Still others say that the President is the only person elected by ALL the people, so his opinion most reflects the will of the public. And then there are most who argue that the Constitutional system was created just to avoid the power of currently popular majorities, and the courts should decide based on the Constitution itself. So the statement has very little meaning except that Phillips thinks that the courts have too much power. Whoever gets to decide what is or is not Constitutional will be accused of being “over” the Constitution by those who don’t like the decisions. In our system, that is the courts.
The view that the Supreme Court was the final arbiter of constitutional controversies was not held in early America.
Jackson was reacting to the claimed right of South Carolina to nullify Federal tariffs and other Federal laws.
On June 12, 1789 a Senate committee proposed a federal court system for the nation. Maclay described it as:
