In Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 178-80 (1803), Chief Justice John Marshall referred to the statute prescribing this oath to support his historic holding in favor of "judicial review" -- his holding, that is, that courts in the United States are duty-bound to make independent judgments of the consistency with the Constitution of any statute or other law that would otherwise be decisive of some point in dispute between the parties to the cases before them. Marshall wrote: "The oath of office . . . imposed [by Congress] is completely demonstrative of the legislative opinion on this subject. . . . Why does a judge swear to discharge his duties agreeably to the constitution of the United States, if that constitution forms no rule for his government? . . ."