From Marbury v. Madison to Bush v. Gore: 200 Years of Judicial Review in the United States

Judicial Review is the foundation of the rule of law in the United States. In this Lecture, the author examines the history and theory of judicial review in the United States as well as certain aspects of the development of the doctrine by the United States Supreme Court. The author uses the case of Bush v. Gore as a recent illustration of the practice of judicial review, and he concludes with some general observations about judicial review and the rule of law in the United States. The author delivered this Lecture in April 2001 at People's University Law School and at Peking University Law School, both in Beijing, China.

This Lecture was designed to give the author's Chinese audiences an introduction to judicial review in the United States. China's legal system does not include an institution that is comparable to American judicial review, and the Chinese audiences found the institution interesting. The Chinese translation of this Lecture is scheduled to be published by the Wuhan University Law Review during 2002.