Judicial review is a process under which a government’s executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary—the government’s system of courts. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are incompatible with a higher authority.
In the United States, judicial review is the legal power of a court to determine if a statute, treaty, or administrative regulation contradicts or violates the provisions of existing law, a State Constitution, or ultimately the United States Constitution. While the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly define the power of judicial review, the authority for judicial review in the United States has been inferred from the structure, provisions, and history of the Constitution.
In 1803, Marbury v. Madison was the first Supreme Court case where the Court asserted its authority to strike down a law as unconstitutional. At the end of his opinion in this decision, John Marshall maintained that the Supreme Court’s responsibility to overturn unconstitutional legislation was a necessary consequence of their sworn oath of office to uphold the Constitution