t to decide what
laws deserve that character, is to give the power of resisting all laws;
for as by the theory there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the
State, good or bad, must prevail. If it should be said that public
opinion is a sufficient check against the abuse of this power, it may be
asked why it is not deemed a sufficient guard against the passage of an
unconstitutional act by Congress? There is, however, a restraint in this
last case which makes the assumed power of a State more indefensible,
and which does not exist in the other. There are two appeals from an
unconstitutional act passed by Congress--one to the judiciary, the other
to the people and the States. There is no appeal from the State decision
in theory, and the practical illustration shows that the courts are
closed against an application to review it, both judges and jurors being
sworn to decide in its favor. But reasoning on this subject is
superfluous when our social compact, in express terms, declares that the
laws of the United States, its Constitution, and treaties made under it
are the supreme law of the land, and, for greater caution, adds "that
the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." And
it may be asserted without fear of refutation that no federative
government could exist without a similar provision. Look for a moment to
the consequence. If South Carolina considers the revenue laws
unconstitutional and has a right to prevent their execution in the port
of Charleston, there would be a clear constitutional objection to their
collection in every other port; and no revenue could be collected
anywhere, for all imposts must be equal. It is no answer to repeat that
an unconstitutional law is no law so long as the question of its
legality is to be decided by the State itself, for every law operating
injuriously upon any local interest will be perhaps thought, and
certainly represented, as unconstitutional, and, as has been shown,
there is no appeal.

If this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would
have been dissolved in its infancy. The excise law in Pennsylvania, the
embargo and nonintercourse law in the Eastern States, the carriage tax
in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in
their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but,
fortunately, none of those States discovered that they ha