Lurio's Cartoon Analysis

The court's power to strike down laws that are unconstitutional is the most important power of the Judicial Branch because it is intended to not only uphold the constitution but everything it guarantees the American people, as well. Marbury v. Madison was significant because it put Congress under a spotlight for passing laws without regarding what the constitution states. By voiding the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Supreme Court legitimized the Judicial Branch as an equal to the Legislative and Executive Branch. This was a bold statement because prior to Marbury v. Madison the the Supreme Court had not exercised their power of Judicial Review. Eric Lurio’s cartoon also regards this as the most important power the court has because without it …show more content…
He did this by keeping enough of the facts to maintain the case’s basic outline, while also adding elements of entertainment. Lurio starts the cartoon by exaggerating the short time frame Adams had to appoint judges under the Judiciary Act of 1801. Instead of what in reality was a few months, Lurio exaggerated as “18 hours until the end of the world." (132) This exaggeration of time was also meant to emphasize how last minute these appoints were in an effort to fill the courts with federalists. Lurio also used the cartoon’s illustrations to entertain readers by exaggerating people’s facial features, specifically noses: that ranged from unordinary pointy noses to fully-rounded noses. In addition to the exaggerated character drawings, Lurio drew and used the Statue of Liberty. In the cartoon, the Statue of Liberty is drawn with a smirk and two text bubbles, one of which called Jefferson a genius but also a politician that on occasion could be a real S.O.B. (134) The significance of using the statue of liberty to make such comments could go beyond entertainment and instead be Lurio’s way of providing his own insight on the case and its key