Judicial review and the basic structure doctrine
Note
The strongest guard against majoritarian amendment rests on the Court's least textually grounded power. That paradox sits at the core of the basic structure doctrine. Judicial review tests legislative and executive action against the Constitution, grounded in Article 13, which voids laws inconsistent with Part III, and in writ jurisdictions under Articles 32 and 226. Its most consequential application limits Article 368: Kesavananda Bharati (1973) held that amendment may not destroy the Constitution's basic structure; Minerva Mills (1980) used it to strike down clauses excluding review; I.R. Coelho (2007) extended it to laws placed in the Ninth Schedule.
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