It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.

That 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.

The peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional.

The power to tax involves the power to destroy;...the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create.

What are the maxims of Democracy? A strict observance of justice and public faith, and a steady adherence to virtue.

An 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.

The 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.