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Quotation from Marbury v. Madison by Supreme Court of the United States
“Between these alternatives there is no middle ground. The Constitution is either a superior, paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it.”
Marbury v. Madison, Opinion of the Court (Marshall, C.J.), on the validity of Section 13 (U.S. Reports text (Wikisource))
Marshall presents the choice that, in his view, any people adopting a written constitution has already made.
Citation: "Between these alternatives there is no middle ground. The Constitution is either a superior, paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it." — Supreme Court of the United States, Marbury v. Madison, Opinion of the Court (Marshall, C.J.), on the validity of Section 13 (U.S. Reports text (Wikisource)). (id marbury-v-madison-q5)
Portrait: John Marshall by Henry Inman, 1832, Henry Inman, Public domain.
