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.

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.

No 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.

A legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law.

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well

The 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.

When 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.