<P> As of 2014, the United States Supreme Court has held 176 Acts of the U.S. Congress unconstitutional . </P> <P>--Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78 </P> <P> Before the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the power of judicial review had been exercised in a number of states . In the years from 1776 to 1787, state courts in at least seven of the thirteen states had engaged in judicial review and had invalidated state statutes because they violated the state constitution or other higher law . These state courts treated state constitutions as statements of governing law to be interpreted and applied by judges . These courts reasoned that because their state constitution was the fundamental law of the state, they must apply the state constitution rather than an act of the legislature that was inconsistent with the state constitution . </P> <P> These state court cases involving judicial review were reported in the press and produced public discussion and comment . At least seven of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, including Alexander Hamilton and Edmund Randolph, had personal experience with judicial review because they had been lawyers or judges in these state court cases involving judicial review . Other delegates referred to some of these state court cases during the debates at the Constitutional Convention . The concept of judicial review therefore was familiar to the framers and to the public before the Constitutional Convention . </P>

What amendment outlines judicial review for the states