Within these limits the power vested in the American courts of justice of pronouncing a statute to be unconstitutional forms one of the most powerful barriers which has ever been devised against the tyranny of political assemblies.
Other Powers Granted To American Judges The United States all the citizens have the right of indicting public functionaries before the ordinary tribunals--How they use this right--Art.

75 of the French Constitution of the An VIII--The Americans and the English cannot understand the purport of this clause.
It is perfectly natural that in a free country like America all the citizens should have the right of indicting public functionaries before the ordinary tribunals, and that all the judges should have the power of punishing public offences.

The right granted to the courts of justice of judging the agents of the executive government, when they have violated the laws, is so natural a one that it cannot be looked upon as an extraordinary privilege.

Nor do the springs of government appear to me to be weakened in the United States by the custom which renders all public officers responsible to the judges of the land.

The Americans seem, on the contrary, to have increased by this means that respect which is due to the authorities, and at the same time to have rendered those who are in power more scrupulous of offending public opinion.