8. “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”
Those are the famous words uttered by President Andrew Jackson in relation to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall’s 1832 decision in
Worcester v. Georgia to strike down a Georgia law that imposed regulations on the comings and goings of white people in Native American land.
This ruling was foundational in establishing the general idea that Native Americans have some degree of sovereignty in their interaction with U.S. governments.
The words and actions of President Jackson in relation to the opinion is a historic event exemplifying the ever present debate over state and federal power and the role of the courts in our modern times.”
Remembering the Time Andrew Jackson Decided to Ignore the Supreme Court In the Name of Georgia’s Right to Cherokee Land
9. That was Andrew
Jackson, father of the modern Democrat Party. And the Court backed away.
“The Court did not ask
federal marshals to carry out the decision, as had become standard.
[5] Worcester thus imposed no obligations on Jackson; there was nothing for him to enforce.
[6][7] This may be seen as a prudential decision, for avoiding the possibility of political conflict between the Court and the Executive, while still delivering what appeared to be a pro-Indian decision.”
Worcester v. Georgia - Wikipedia
“The fact remained, however, that in this case and in
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), when it was ruled that the Bank of the United States was in fact constitutional,
Jackson challenged the Court’s authority as the final arbiter. As president, Jackson believed that his authority to deem what was constitutional equaled the Supreme Court’s.” Andrew Jackson and the Constitution | AP US History Study Guide from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Jackson was, or course, correct.
10. “. . some have argued that the President—in certain circumstances—has an independent power to interpret the Constitution, and a concomitant power to ignore or defy court orders if the President comes to a good faith conclusion that the courts have erred.” “Ex Parte Merryman: Myth, History, and Scholarship,” Seth Tillman
The pronouncements of the Supreme Court should be treated as the red and green lights are in Rome.....as merely a suggestion.