No political dreamer was ever wild enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the States and compounding the American people into one common mass.
John MarshallHave no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden or in any manner control the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress.
John MarshallWhen a law is in its nature a contract, when absolute rights have vested under that contract, a repeal of the law cannot divest those rights.
John MarshallThe constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.
John MarshallTo obtain a just compromise, concession must not only mutual-it must be equal also....There can be no hope that either will yield more than it gets in return.
John MarshallLet the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.
John MarshallIt is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is...If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each...This is of the very essence of judicial duty.
John MarshallThe acme of judicial distinction means the ability to look a lawyer straight in the eyes for two hours and not hear a damned word he says.
John MarshallThat the people have an original right to establish, for their future government, such principles as, in their opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness, is the basis, on which the whole American fabric has been erected.... The principles, therefore, so established, are deemed fundamental. And as the authority, from which they proceed, is supreme ... they are designed to be permanent.... The powers of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the constitution is written.
John MarshallIn a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen.
John MarshallThe power to tax involves the power to destroy;...the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create.
John MarshallThe French Revolution will be found to have had great influence on the strength of parties, and on the subsequent political transactions of the United States.
John MarshallWhat are the maxims of Democracy? A strict observance of justice and public faith, and a steady adherence to virtue.
John MarshallState inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress. ... Inspection laws, quarantine laws, health laws of every description, as well as laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c., are component parts of this mass. No direct general power over these objects is granted to Congress, and, consequently, they remain subject to State legislation.
John MarshallThe peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional.
John MarshallThe institution of Masonry ought to be abandoned as one capable of much evil, and incapable of producing any good which might not be affected by safe and open means.
John MarshallThe law does not expect a man to be prepared to defend every act of his life which may be suddenly and without notice alleged against him.
John MarshallCertainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void.
John MarshallThe federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.
John MarshallA corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.
John MarshallThe people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.
John MarshallNo principle of general law is more universally acknowledged, than the perfect equality of nations. Russia and Geneva have equal rights. It results from this equality, that no one can rightfully impose a rule on another....As no nation can prescribe a rule for others, none can make a law of nations.
John MarshallAn unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.
John MarshallBetween a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.
John MarshallWhat is it that makes us trust our judges? Their independence in office and manner of appointment.
John MarshallThe most lively fancy aided by the strongest description cannot equal the reality of the opera.
John MarshallThe government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.
John MarshallIt is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.
John MarshallI have always believed that national character... depends more on the female part of society than is generally imagined. Precepts from the lips of a beloved mother... sink deep in the heart, and make an impression which is seldom entirely effaced.
John MarshallThe particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.
John Marshall