Question

In one paragraph, compare Boerne v. Flores to Marbury v. Madison.

Which power was used by the Supreme Court in each case? How were the Supreme Court’s rulings similar in each case?

Answer 1

Both cases involved the Supreme Court exercising judicial review to invalidate an act of Congress, but in different contexts: Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the Court’s power to declare federal statutes unconstitutional by striking down a portion of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that attempted to expand the Court’s original jurisdiction, while Boerne v. Flores (1997) applied that power to limit Congress’s enforcement authority under the Fourteenth Amendment by holding that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as applied to the states, exceeded Congress’s Section 5 remedial powers. The rulings are similar in that each asserted the judiciary’s role as final arbiter of the Constitution and checked congressional overreach by declaring statutory provisions unconstitutional.