Democratic (constitutionalist) Senator John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, in a letter to Virgil Maxcy, Solicitor of the united States Treasury describes the concept of judicial review as contrary to the concept of good government:

      The question is in truth between the people and the supreme court.  We contend, that the great conservative principle of our system is in the people of the States, as parties to the constitutional compact, and our opponents that it is in the supreme court. … Without a full practical recognition of the rights and sovereignty of the States, our union and liberty must perish. State rights would be found. … in all cases of difficulty and danger [to be] the only conservative principle in the system, the only one that could interpose an effectual check to the danger.

       [updated 11/8/2025]