A constitutional crisis occurs when political parties willfully violate a constitution's law, as was demonstrated during the Alien and Sedition Acts.
In the course of government, the crisis results when one or more of the parties to a political dispute willfully chooses to violate a law of the constitution; or to flout an unwritten constitutional convention; or to dispute the correct, legal interpretation of the violated constitutional law or of the flouted political custom. The incident was published in the American press and created a foreign policy crisis, which precipitated the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. 
