ABSTRACT
The argument by which Marshall justified the Supreme Court's decision in Marbury v. Madison is expressed in language readily comprehended by the layman. Marshall filed only two exhibits to support Ms contentions that the Constitution is law and that it is the highest law of the land: the intentions of men who had framed written constitutions and certain expressions in the United States Constitution. Judges sometimes spoke of the law of God, and they frequently spoke of a law of nature. More than a few writers on our constitutional system have viewed this reference to obligation of state judges as clinching their argument that judicial review was intended by the framers of the Constitution. The statement that state judges are bound by Constitution, laws, and treaties is regarded as proof that the Constitution was intended to be effective law, interpreted and enforced in court just as laws and treaties have been enforced in court for centuries.
