Madison vs. Jefferson: On the Issue of Constitutional Conflict in the Federalist Papers

In the Federalist Papers, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson discuss the issue of constitutional conflict, specifically the encroachment by any one branch of the government on another. Jefferson proposes a method for resolving such a conflict between the Judicial, the Legislative, and/or the Executive branch of government. His proposal states that ``whenever any two of the three branches of government shall concur in opinion, each by the voices of two thirds of their whole number, that a convention is necessary for altering the constitution, or correcting breaches of it, a convention shal…