Definition
Judicial supremacy is the claim that the Supreme Court is not merely one interpreter of the Constitution but the final and authoritative one. Under this view, when the Court resolves a constitutional question, its interpretation binds the legislative and executive branches and the states, and stands until the Court itself revises it or a constitutional amendment overrides it.
The principle builds on judicial review, established in Marbury v. Madison in 1803, which recognized the courts power to refuse to enforce laws that conflict with the Constitution. Judicial supremacy goes a step further: in Cooper v. Aaron in 1958, the Court declared that its interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment was the supreme law of the land, binding on state officials regardless of their disagreement.
Why it matters
How it works
Judicial supremacy operates through ordinary litigation. A party with standing brings a case, lower courts apply the law, and the Supreme Court may take the case to issue a definitive ruling. Once decided, the principle of stare decisis gives that ruling precedential weight, and other branches are expected to conform their conduct to it. The Courts authority rests less on enforcement power than on institutional legitimacy and the broad acceptance of its role.