Determine how judicial review makes the Constitution a living document.

The American Framers hoped that the Constitution they were drafting would serve the nation for many decades; however, they would have been pleasantly surprised to learn that it has now been in effect for more than two centuries. The success of the document is due in large part to the flexibility built into it. When changes have been necessary, the amendment process provided by the Constitution itself has been available. However, while the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times, most of the changes made in the American political system have been made without formally amending the Constitution. In fact, even the amendments that have been made have left the basic structure and function of the government intact. A large majority of the twenty-seven amendments have instead focused on extending and protecting particular rights of individuals or groups of individuals.

Almost since the day it was ratified, the “general welfare” clause in the Preamble and the “necessary and proper” clause in Article I have been considered the “penumbra” of the Constitution. The Framers purposely left that portion of the document for future generations to debate and define. It appears that in many instances, the Framers were content to leave unanswered questions about what is “Constitutional” and what is not. For the Constitution to survive, they knew that it would have to be a living, breathing document, capable of both imposing order on the interactions of governments and people as well as reflecting their values and needs as times changed.

While it is easy to take for granted many of the relationships and customs that have evolved in the American Constitutional system, numerous substantive issues had to be decided early in the nation’s life under the Constitution. Just as Washington’s actions brought stability to the nation and set the standard for those that followed him, the Congress and the Supreme Court established patterns of behavior that gave the words in the Constitution practical meaning. In many ways, the occupants of each branch of the national government were feeling their way in the new system of government, establishing their independent roles as well as their relationships with the other branches. The same can be said of the relationship between the states and the national government. Signaling the important role it would play throughout the nation’s history in interpreting the Constitution, the Supreme Court issued decisions in two landmark cases that both clarified the extent of the powers of the national government and reiterated the supremacy of the Constitution itself.