Lasting Impact of Virginia Courts

Program Information
Transcript
Virginia Standards

Program Information

Program: Judicial Independence in the New World
Segment Number: 12 (Watch entire program)
Duration: 00:02:20
Year Produced: 2009
Description:

Virginia was home to the first courts of the new world and its founding fathers went on to influence the judicial system, not only of this nation, but beyond. As in the past, Virginia continues to play a role in making history.

The court system is an ever-changing and evolving entity, and there are key moments of history when Virginia's people and its judicial system made everlasting impressions on the country. JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN THE NEW WORLD tells the story of the development of the court system in the early years of our nation's history. Historians take us back to the Court Days and Pre-Revolution and Post-Revolution periods to explain the rule of law and the basics of the court system we know today.

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Transcript

Narration:
John Marshall would continue to serve as Chief Justice until 1835. His decisions would increase the power of the Supreme Court, emphasize the role of the judiciary in states and reinforce the national supremacy of the federal government.

Howard:
Imagine a system without Judicial Review. Imagine that you have a constitution but it means whatever the executive and legislative branches think it means. Isn’t it fascinating? It may be a little bit of a, only a Virginian perhaps would be willing to say this, but you could, in a sense, put Virginia’s story of the writing of a constitution, the writing of a declaration of rights and the emergence of Judicial Review at the center of a global story, namely that what Virginians did in writing their constitution and declaration of rights, what the Virginia judges did in Kamper vs. Hawkins, has been an idea which has become part of not only a national narrative but has spread around the world. Nearly every country today has a written constitution, most of those countries have something like a supreme court. Those courts enjoy a lot of power. Those judges are doing what John Marshall did in Murberry, what the Virginia judges did in the 1790s. So in a sense you could place Virginia at the center of a story which has spread not only throughout the country, but throughout the world.

Narration:
Virginia was home to the first courts of the new world and its founding fathers went on to influence the judicial system, not only of this nation, but beyond. As in the past, Virginia continues to play a role in making history.

Virginia Standards