THOMAS C. GREY
Judicial Review is the principle which allows a court—judges—to declare an act of the legislature or the executive improper and unlawful. It is a standard principle of American government yet it was not explicitly stated in the Constitution. Hence to some, there is a question about the legitimacy of Judicial Review itself. Many nations do not have it. Many people think it is the most important aspect of a democratic society as it provides a check on both the executive and the legislature.
Thomas C. Grey is the Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Stanford Law School. As a legal theorist and a historian of modern American legal thought, Grey has written widely on pragmatism, legal formalism, legal realism, and the jurisprudence of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.