Thomas Jefferson indicated in a letter that he was upset about the decision in Marbury v. Madison. And yet, in a much earlier letter to James Madison (cited in a newsletter last week), Jefferson indicated that he wanted the Supreme Court to have the veto power, so how do you reconcile that?

The letter about Marbury is difficult to decipher in some places, and I think his objection was that the Supreme Court thought it had the power to tells the other branches to do something (as opposed to telling them they can't do something), in this case ordering a member of the executive branch to transmit Mr. Marbury's letter of commission. If the judicial branch could thus order the executive branch around, that would present a danger of turning the Constitution into "a thing of wax", allowing one branch not just a check, but actually a direct power over another.

Not having Plessy v. Ferguson wouldn't really change anything; that decision upheld existing law. Dred Scott was a case where I think you'd have to have judicial review, because it involved no statutes. It was a civil suit about whether you could have a civil suit.

I'm definitely going to have to examine the doctrine of judicial supremacy. Please make sure to mention the case name, Thom, I don't have it in my list of important cases yet.