How has Georgia\'s constitution historically approached judicial review?

• A. It never allowed review
• B. It allowed review only by the federal courts
• C. It allowed judicial review only after 1900
• D. It allowed the power to declare acts unconstitutional, institutionalized in 1861

Answer: (D)

Judicial review is the power of courts to interpret the constitution and strike down laws that conflict with it. In Georgia, that authority was given formal, explicit shape in the 1861 Constitution, which put the judiciary in a position to declare acts of the legislature void if they violated the state constitution. This framed constitutional supremacy as a basic check on legislative power and established, for the state, the practice of reviewing laws for constitutional compatibility. Earlier constitutions didn’t codify this power as clearly, so the 1861 provision marks when Georgia first explicitly embraced judicial review within its constitutional order. The idea that such power never existed isn’t accurate, and the notion that only federal courts could perform this review misreads the state-level framework—Georgia’s own courts were empowered to enforce constitutional limits. Saying this power appeared only after 1900 ignores the 1861 milestone that formalized it.