The power of construing the laws
according to the spirit of the Constitution, will enable that court to
mould them into whatever shape it may think proper; especially as its
decisions will not be in any manner subject to the revision or
correction of the legislative body. This is as unprecedented as it is
dangerous. In Britain, the judical power, in the last resort, resides in
the House of Lords, which is a branch of the legislature; and this part
of the British government has been imitated in the State constitutions
in general. The Parliament of Great Britain, and the legislatures of the
several States, can at any time rectify, by law, the exceptionable
decisions of their respective courts. But the errors and usurpations of
the Supreme Court of the United States will be uncontrollable and
remediless." This, upon examination, will be found to be made up
altogether of false reasoning upon misconceived fact.
In the first place, there is not a syllable in the plan under
consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe
the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution, or which gives
them any greater latitude in this respect than may be claimed by the
courts of every State.
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