On the record
In all that time, so far as I have known, he never declared a single act of congress unconstitutional; and probably never would have done so, if he had lived to this time.
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Lysander Spooner
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gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “In all that time, so far as I have known, he never declared a single act of congress unconstitutional; and probably…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner claims that Marshall did not declare congressional acts unconstitutional, highlighting a lack of protection for rights.
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More from Lysander Spooner
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.
They acknowledge it to be our unquestioned right and duty to kill them, if we can; that they expect nothing else, than that we will kill them, if we can; and that we are only fools and cowards, if we do not kill them, by any and every…
For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.
They do not tell us that they have established infallible supreme courts, to whom they refer all questions as to the legality of their acts, and that they do nothing that is not sanctioned by these courts.