“Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void.” Marbury v. Madison, 1803.

Really, 1803. Judicial review is not new, nor is it activist. It serves to protect fundamental interests embedded in the constitution even when a temporary majority would choose to subvert them.