On February 24, ...... 1803 (205 years ago today), the U.S. Supreme Court for the 1st time held an Act of Congress unconstitutional, and thus established the power of judicial review over legislative and executive action. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the landmark judgment in Marbury v. Madison (above) for a unanimous Court. Evidence of the decision's lasting and global significance is this article by James Crawford, a professor at England's University of Cambridge: Marbury v. Madison at the International Level, 36 George Washington International Law Revew 505 (2004).
... 1955, 5 countries signed the Pact of Mutual Cooperation Between the Kingdom of Iraq, the Republic of Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Dominion of Pakistan, and the Kingdom of Iran. Known as the "Baghdad Pact" in recognition of the Iraqi city in which it was signed, the treaty did not last long: as detailed in a BBC analysis, its failure "heralded the end of British influence in the Middle East."
