The United States Become a Kritarchy
Thomas Allen
The United States’ conversion from a federation of republican States to a kritarchy (rule by judges) began with Chief Justice John Marshall; Chief Justice Earl Warren carried it to fruition. Marshall birthed the kritarchy when he usurped, for the Supreme Court, the power to decide which federal acts and later State acts were constitutional. This usurpation made the Supreme Court superior to the President, Congress, and the States, and its decisions the supreme law of the land, because it decides what the Constitution means, i.e., what is constitutional and unconstitutional.
In 1801, President Adams appointed Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, after Jefferson won the presidential election and his party swept the House and Senate, but before they entered office. Marshall was a Federalist. Federalists wanted to convert the United States from a federation of independent sovereign States (nations) to a consolidated national empire, i.e., make the federal government (the creation) superior to the States (the creators). (The Constitution had established a federation of independent sovereign States.) Additionally, Marshall wanted to make the Supreme Court superior to the President and Congress. To achieve this goal, the Constitution had to be corrupted. Corrupting it, Marshall did. Thus, Marshall became the father of Judicial Review (the exclusive right to rule on the constitutionality of acts of Congress), which is authorized nowhere in the Constitution,
Marshall’s usurpation of unconstitutional power began transferring the sovereignty of the people of each State to the federal government, i.e., the oligarchs who control the federal government. Lincoln’s War and the Fourteenth Amendment completed the process of transferring sovereignty to the oligarchs.
Furthermore, Marshall converted the Constitution into a “living Constitution,” which makes it malleable to the whims of judges. Thus, he began expanding the powers of the federal government and reducing the powers of the States and the people thereof.
Moreover, Marshall interpreted the “Necessary and Proper” clause as giving Congress power to do whatever it wanted to do if the Constitution did not specifically and expressly deny that power to Congress. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court decides how much these restrictions really restrict the acts of the federal government.
Now, the Tenth Amendment places no restrictions on the federal government. Marshall began the process of nullifying the Tenth Amendment. Lincoln and the Fourteenth Amendment completed the process. Although the Tenth Amendment has never been repealed, it no longer restricts the federal government. Nowadays, States retain only those powers that the Supreme Court condescends to allow them. Although the Tenth Amendment remains part of the Constitution, it is as relevant as the “three-fifths person” clause.
The Constitution of 1788 may be the de jure Constitution, but the de facto Constitution that the US Supreme Court uses is at https://tcallenco.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-real-constitution-of-united-states.html. Under the de facto Constitution, the President and Congress may do whatever they want to do, provided that the Supreme Court does not object. Moreover, the States and the people of the States have only those rights and authorities approved by the Supreme Court.
Reference
Walters, Ryan. “Spencer Roane and the Richmond Junto.” March 9, 2026. abbevilleinstitute.org/spencer-roane-and-the-richmond-junto. Accessed March 10, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 by Thomas Coley Allen.
