Jackson Administrations - Jackson and the Judiciary
Jackson and the Judiciary
In the years since the Jackson administration, it has been accepted in U.S. government that in the interpretation of the Constitution, the Supreme Court holds ultimate supremacy. To Jackson, this was questionable. He saw no reason why the Supreme Court should act as the final arbiter of constitutional issues. His views on this subject were complicated, however, by the fact that Chief Justice John Marshall was a political enemy who had supported John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay during the election of 1828. It was often difficult to tell whether Jackson's reactions to the Court's opinions were due to political convictions, or to his personal feelings on the matter at hand.
The best example of Jackson's sometimes contradictory approach to the judiciary is the Court's decision during the Georgia controversy of his first term, involving the Cherokee Indians. (See also, Domestic Issues). When Georgia...
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