Welcome to Call to Decision 

 American Minute with Bill Federer

 September 24

 "The power to tax is the power to destroy," wrote John Marshall, 4th
 Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who was born SEPTEMBER 24,
 1755.

 No one had a greater impact on Constitutional Law than John Marshall.


 Sworn in February 4, 1801, Marshall served 34 years and helped write
 over 1,000 decisions, including supporting the Cherokee Indian nation
 to stay in Georgia.

 During the Revolution, John Marshall fought under Washington and
 endured the freezing winter at Valley Forge.

 The Liberty Bell, according to tradition, cracked tolling at
 Marshall's funeral, July 8, 1835.

 Chief Justice John Marshall wrote to Jasper Adams, May 9, 1833:

 "The American population is entirely Christian, and with us
 Christianity and Religion are identified.

 It would be strange indeed, if with such a people, our institutions
 did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and
 exhibit relations with it."

 A hundred years after John Marshall's death, the Supreme Court
 Building was completed in 1935.

 Herman A. MacNeil's marble relief above the east portico prominently
 features Moses in the center with two stone tablets.

 Adolph A. Weinman's marble frieze on the south wall includes Moses
 holding Hebrew tablets.

 Every Supreme Court session opens with the invocation:

 "God save the United States and this Honorable Court."