ABSTRACT
The significance the Framers attached to the courts and the judicial power can be surmised by noting the placement, brevity, and generality of the judicial article. This chapter examines the establishment of and general justification for the power of judicial review. It discusses the various restraints on its exercise imposed externally by the legislative and executive branches and internally by the courts themselves. The chapter declares the judicial power of the federal courts shall extend to "cases" and "controversies", that is, to litigation involving a real conflict of interests or rights between contending parties. Alexander Hamilton also defended judicial review as the means by which the Constitution, created by the Framers, will remain "limited" in nature. Federalism, much more than separation of powers, has played a legitimate role in the evolution of the judicial role. A different kind of restraint on judicial review comes into play when the Court considers a case to be nonjusticiable despite clear jurisdictional authority.
