4.1 - The Supreme Court and judicial review

A court above ordinary law

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the federal judiciary, rather than a third elected chamber. Article III establishes one Supreme Court and permits Congress to create lower federal courts. Its work includes interpreting federal statutes, resolving disputes about federal powers and protecting constitutional rights. It usually hears appeals; its limited original jurisdiction, where a case begins in the Supreme Court, includes certain disputes involving states.

Article VI makes the Constitution superior to conflicting ordinary law. This matters because an election gives Congress or a state legislature authority to legislate within constitutional limits, rather than permission to disregard those limits. A court deciding a dispute may therefore have to choose between a statute and the Constitution.

The Supreme Court can review federal and state laws and executive action. It does not have to prefer a different policy to invalidate a law: the legal question is whether the government had constitutional authority or infringed a protected right. Judicial interpretation nevertheless affects political outcomes because constitutional language can support competing readings. Constitution, Articles III and VI.

If you sit in 2027: Issue 3 sometimes uses lower-case “justice” and “constitution” in its key terms. Issue 4 standardises “Justice” and “Constitution”; the underlying content here is shared.

Independence and accountability

Judicial independence means that Justices can decide cases without dismissal or financial punishment for displeasing a president or Congress. Article III gives federal judges tenure during good behaviour and prevents reduction of their judicial pay while in office. There is no fixed retirement age for US Supreme Court Justices. A president cannot remove a Justice simply because that Justice rules against the administration.

These protections reduce pressure to seek re-election or satisfy the person who made the nomination. They also allow a judicial appointment to influence law long after that president leaves office. Independence is therefore both a safeguard against arbitrary government and a reason appointments have high political stakes.

Independence does not mean absence of accountability. The House can impeach and the Senate can remove a Justice following conviction; disagreement with a judgment is not by itself evidence of misconduct. Congress determines the Court's statutory size and funds the judiciary, while the president nominates and the Senate confirms new Justices. Justices must give legal reasons through judgments, and arguments can be challenged by dissenting opinions and later cases.

Distinguish independence, freedom from external control, from neutrality, deciding fairly using law rather than personal or party loyalty. Secure tenure helps independence but cannot prove that a person's interpretation is free of values. Constitution, Articles I–III.

Marbury and federal legislation

Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the Supreme Court's authority to invalidate an Act of Congress that conflicted with the Constitution. William Marbury had been appointed a justice of the peace near the end of John Adams's presidency, but his commission was not delivered. He asked the Supreme Court to order Secretary of State James Madison to deliver it.

Chief Justice John Marshall's reasoning separated Marbury's entitlement from the Court's power to provide the requested remedy. Marbury had a right to the commission, but Congress could not expand the Court's original jurisdiction beyond Article III. The Court treated the relevant provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional and declined to issue the order.