West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · ¶88

In the past this Court has from time to time set its views of policy against that embodied in legislation by finding laws in conflict with what was called the “spirit of the Constitution.” Such undefined destructive power was not conferred on this Court by the Constitution. Before a duly enacted law can be judicially nullified, it must be forbidden by some explicit restriction upon political authority in the Constitution. Equally inadmissible is the claim to strike down legislation because to us as individuals it seems opposed to the “plan and purpose” of the Constitution. That is too tempting a basis for finding in one’s personal views the purposes of the Founders.

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 319, at 624 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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