Lesson 21: How Does the U.S. Supreme Court Use the Power of Judicial Review?

Terms

judicial review  The power of the courts to declare laws and actions of the local, state, or national government invalid if they contradict the Constitution.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)  A landmark case in which the Supreme Court, for the first time in American history, struck down an act of Congress as unconstitutional, establishing the Court's power of constitutional judicial review.

null and void  Of no legal or binding force; invalid.

opinion of the Court  A written explanation of the Supreme Court???s decision in a particular case and its reasoning behind the decision.