Explaining judicial review by the courts  When does a law
violate the U.S. Constitution?  Judge Greg Galler Guest
Columnist  The role of the courts has received a lot of
attention following hearings at the U.S. Supreme Court regarding
the law commonly known as “Obamacare.”  Many, including the
president, have discussed something called “judicial review.”
Judicial review refers to a power held by the courts to decide
if a law violates the U.S. Constitution or not. If the law
violates the constitution, the courts will “strike down” the law
declaring it invalid.  Perhaps ironically, the court’s power to
declare a law to be unconstitutional is not specifically
addressed in the U.S. Constitution. Instead, it is considered to
be an inherent power of the courts.  The U. S. Supreme Court
first declared a law to be unconstitutional in 1803 in a case
known as Marbury vs. Madison. In that case, Chief Justice John
Marshall described and outlined the power of judicial review by
asking the question:  Can a law “repugnant t