James Iredell and the American Origins of Judicial Law Review

Professor Casto provides a look at the earlier writings of James Iredell. Especially fascinating is that Iredell developed his ideas in the 1780s without the assistance of pre-existing analyses of judicial review. His ideas accurately foreshadowed virtually all subsequent judicial discussions of the issue in the early Republic. No justice of the Supreme Court -including Chief Justice Marshall - has ever addressed the issue in a more comprehensive and sophisticated fashion. Iredell's explanation and justification also virtually dictated the fundamental rule of judicial interpretation that the early justices used in gauging the constitutionality of legislation.