Depressions: Chapter 2

This chapter provides a little bit of a background into the early history of judicial review that Brian mentioned in his comments to the Chapter 1 post (yes, yes, everything here is still slanted right). I wasn't familiar with Marbury vs. Madison or Marshall's role in the whole affair. It's intriguing to me that the Federalists thought it would even be possible to create a judiciary insulated from the other branches as thoroughly as they evidently intended. I guess I had always assumed that the court was intended to hold congress to the bar of the constitution. But Yates' comments seem remarkably far-sighted for what the courts have actually (inevitably, perhaps?) become.

I'd be interested to hear some feedback on what y'all think a court that didn't have any say in lawmaker's decisions would look like. It's difficult for me to imagine, and probably is beyond anything there's any hope of getting back to anyway. Does that mean that the original intent of the founding fathers for our republic is gone forever? Anyone interested in colonizing Mars and having another go at it?