George Will's most recent column the writes a great dedication towards one of our greatest jurors, John Marshall, whose 250th birthday was September 24, 2005. Here's a sample:
Among the many recent fine biographies of America's Founders, none is finer than Jean Edward Smith's ``John Marshall: Definer of a Nation'' (1996). Smith locates Marshall's greatness in this fact: Unlike Britain's constitutional documents, which are political documents that it is Parliament's prerogative to construe, the U.S. Constitution is a legal document construed by courts, not Congress. When judicial supervision of our democracy seems tiresome, consider the alternative.Happy Birthday Chief Justice John Marshall, we're thankful for your great contribution to this mighty republic.
Marshall's life of strong, consequential prose had, Smith writes, a poetic coda. Marshall died in Philadelphia, birthplace of the Constitution into which he breathed so much strength and meaning. The Liberty Bell, while tolling his death, cracked. It never rang again.
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