Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Prologue: Bush v. Gore
- Introduction: The Dynamic Constitution
- Part I Individual Rights Under the Constitution
- Part II The Constitutional Separation of Powers
- Part III Further Issues of Constitutional Structure and Individual Rights
- Appendix: The Constitution of the United States
- Notes
- Index
Prologue: Bush v. Gore
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Prologue: Bush v. Gore
- Introduction: The Dynamic Constitution
- Part I Individual Rights Under the Constitution
- Part II The Constitutional Separation of Powers
- Part III Further Issues of Constitutional Structure and Individual Rights
- Appendix: The Constitution of the United States
- Notes
- Index
Summary
It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)[W]hoever hath an absolute authority to interpret any written or spoken laws, it is he who is truly the lawgiver, to all intents and purposes, and not the person who first spoke or wrote them.
Bishop Hoadly's Sermon, preached before King (George I of England), March 31, 1717On December 9, 2000, American politics slammed to a halt as the nation awaited a Supreme Court decision likely to settle that year's presidential election. Roughly a month earlier, the voters had gone to the polls and produced nearly an even split between Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore. Before the long election night was over, three things became apparent. First, more Americans voted for Gore than for Bush. Second, despite Gore's popular victory, the presidency would go to the candidate who carried Florida. Third, the initial Florida count had Bush winning by a narrow margin, but the correctness of the machine-counted tally remained subject to question.
Florida turned out to be key to the presidency because the Constitution provides for the President to be chosen by the “electoral college” rather than the nationwide popular vote. Under the electoral college system, each state has an assigned number of presidential votes, based mostly on its population.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Dynamic ConstitutionAn Introduction to American Constitutional Law, pp. xv - xxiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004