Kent on the Constitution

The law with us must conform, in the first place, to the
constitution of the United States, and then to the subor-
dinate constitution of its particular state, and if it infringes
the provisions of either, it is so far void. The courts of
justice have a right, and are in duty bound, to bring every
law to the test of the constitution, and to regard the con-
stitution, first of the United States, and then of their own
state, as the paramount or supreme law, to which every
inferior or derivative power and regulation must conform.
The constitution is the act of the people, speaking in their
original character, and defining the permanent conditions
of the social alliance; and there can be no doubt on the
point with us, that every act of the legislative power, con-
trary to the true intent and meaning of the constitution,
is absolutely null and void.