Marbury v. Madison (1803) is one of the most important cases in the history of the Supreme Court. It began in 1800, with the beginning of the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson (McBride). John Adams of the Federalist Party had just been defeated and creating political alarm for the group (McBride). John Adams in his final days of presidency decided to appoint a great number of justices of the peace (McBride). The new President Jefferson and his Republicans were infuriated with Adams act before he left office. John Adams passed the Judiciary Act of 1801 that allowed sixteen new federal circuit judges, on his way out of office he nominated all sixteen (American Bar Association). Part of the Judiciary Act of 1801 allowed for legislation to authorize the President to appoint the same number of judges as he thought was necessary.
Labeled the Midnight Judges Adam had appointed to office on his exit was confirmed by the Senate,
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Before this case, the Supreme Court was never intended to have control beyond the other branches. It established that the Supreme Court was an independent branch of the government, which can exert their ability to implement “constitutional limits on their powers” (American Bar Association). The case also created the concept of judicial review, the ability for the Court to review a statue, for being unconstitutional (Kelly).It also showed what was intended for the branches of government to be coequal. The direct outcome that came from the decision that denied power to the Supreme Court, also established the rule that the duty of the judicial department is to give or take how the law is (History.com). The outcome from the Marbury v. Madison case showed that the final arbiter of the principles of the Constitution is the Supreme
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Show MoreThe court case of Marbury v. Madison (1803) is credited and widely believed to be the creator of the “unprecedented” concept of Judicial Review. John Marshall, the Supreme Court Justice at the time, is lionized as a pioneer of Constitutional justice, but, in the past, was never really recognized as so. What needs to be clarified is that nothing in history is truly unprecedented, and Marbury v. Madison’s modern glorification is merely a product of years of disagreements on the validity of judicial review, fueled by court cases like Eakin v. Raub; John Marshall was also never really recognized in the past as the creator of judicial review, as shown in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford.
Madison as he was in the Louisiana Purchase, he was still a key player in this episode that redefined the Judiciary branch of American government. Jefferson had just taken over the presidency from John Adams, a member of the rival Federalist Party, who, during his last days in office, had many of his fellow Federalists assigned offices in the Judiciary, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall (Goldfield 277). Jefferson and his Secretary of State, James Madison, resented this Federalist grab for power and refused to give one of the appointees his position. This appointee, William Marbury, used the Judiciary Act of 1789 to take the issue to court (277). However Marshall, did not rule that Marbury be given his appointment by Jefferson, who had been actively removing Federalist Judges and would likely choose not to acknowledge Marshall’s authority (277). Marshall took a different approach, instead of giving Marbury his appointment, he declared the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional because it gave the Supreme Court authority that was beyond what was outlined in the Constitution (277). By taking away some of his own authority, Marshall gave the Supreme Court the formidable ability to declare laws unconstitutional (277). Interestingly, it would never have happened if Jefferson and his administration had not have taken action (or in this case lack of action) against the appointment
In 1803, the decision in Marbury v Madison held that the Supreme Court had the ability to practice the process of judicial review. With this ruling, the Court gave itself the power to deem legislation constitutional or unconstitutional. With this bolstered power, the Supreme Court made numerous landmark decisions throughout the 19th and during the first half of the 20th centuries. The Supreme Court’s power of judicial review played an integral role in shaping post-bellum racial laws and attitudes. In the cases of Plessey v. Ferguson and Brown v. The Board of Education the Supreme Court invoked judicial review to assess racial segregation policies as they related to the 14th Amendment. Both Plessey and Brown are landmark cases because they reflected the social climate of their respective time periods, because both cases had immediate impact upon civil rights law and everyday life in America, and because both cases affected basic interpretation of the Constitution.
In the early years of the Constitution the legislative and executive branches held the power to establish and enforce any laws. This was prevalent up until the Marbury v. Madison case in 1803. John Marshall, as the Chief Justice during the case, declared that the Judicial Act of 1801, appointing numerous federalist “midnight judges” to judicial positions in the government, was unconstitutional. By overruling a law passed by Congress itself, Marshall was able to prove the Supreme Court as a center of power that can even have precedence over Congress, the President, and all other courts if it is necessary to determine constitutionality. Also known as Judicial Review, this power was the base on which John Marshall build up the Supreme Court to be respected and equal to the other branches. The power of the Supreme Court and federal law was continued into the next major case, Fletcher v. Peck. When Georgia wanted the land they gave to the Yazoo Company back after elections, their government brought it to court. John Marshall and the Supreme Court declared that land grant contracts cannot be repealed and made contracts “sacred”. Marshall utilized the power of the Supreme Court to overrule the decision made by Georgia. The establishment of Judicial Review is prevalent in the outcome of Fletcher v. Peck in that the federal judiciary
Madison is the first of many important opinions issued by Marshall. It established a precedent for the use of "judicial review," the Supreme Court 's power to determine whether a law is constitutional or unconstitutional. While the idea of judicial review was not new at the time, the decision in Marbury helped to establish the role of the judiciary and spelled out the role of the Supreme Court within the structure of the U.S. government. At the same time, Marshall 's opinion appeared impartial to the political aspects of the case in an attempt to demonstrate that politics should not interfere with legal decisions. His thought in relation to understanding the case comes from his belief in the federal judiciary needing to protect citizens from overreaching state governments, which can be done by declaring laws enacted by state governments
Marbury v. Madison was a Supreme Court case to resolve the dispute of Marbury’s appointment in 1803. Before he left presidential office, John Adams made a set of last minute appointments. According to these, he named Federalists to the most of the positions. Among others, he appointed William Marbury “as a justice of the peace in the District of Columbia but failed to deliver Marbury’s commission before midnight” (Boyer 226). Marbury needed the notice of appointment; however, new secretary of state Republican John Madison refused to send it to him. As a result, Marbury asked the Supreme Court for help. The Chief of Justice, John Marshall, went back to available documents to find out what he was supposed to do. Finally, he presented that although Marbury has the right to the appointment, according to Constitution, no one has the right to force Madison to deliver Marbury’s commission.
Marshall made a landmark decision in the MARBURY V. MADISON case, that would define the boundries between the executive and judical branches of the American government. Marbury had been appointed as a Justice of the Peace by John Adams, but his commission was not delivered before Thomas Jefferson assumed the Presidency in 1801. Marbury filed a petition with the Supreme Court to force the Secretary of
The power the Supreme Court has today stems from the case of Marbury v. Madison: a hearing
In the presidential election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams to become the third president of the United States. The Judiciary Act of 1801 was passed which modified another act in 1789 that established ten district courts, six circuit courts, and the addition of judges to each circuit giving the president authority to appoint federal judges. The Marbury v. Madison was a landmark case in 1803 in which the court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review. The landmark decision defined the boundary between separate judicial and executive branches of the American form of government. The Marbury v. Madison case of 1803 played a key role in making the Supreme Court a separate branch of government.
The first section of the finding was that Marbury had been “duly appointed… and that the secretary of state did not have the privilege to later withhold it” (Clinton 15-16). Referring to the writ of mandamus, Marshall also ruled that the writ constituted as “appropriate legal remedy for resolution” (Clinton 16). The second section of the decision dealt with the power of the Court to issue the writ, ruling that the “Court’s answer is negative” (Clinton 16). What this means, in terms of the verdict, was Marbury was entitled to his commission and has applied for an appropriate legal remedy, but was in the wrong court. Clinton uses this to show the significance of the first Supreme Court usage of judicial review. By ruling on this, Marshall did indeed establish the notion of judicial review, but, ironically, the Chief Justice, by coining this term, decreased the power of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary. This, however, lead to what Clinton calls a state decisis, or a doctrine of precedence that becomes “the very essence of judicial duty” (Clinton 30).
In Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton argued that the Judicial Branch is the “least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution" and that it is “beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power” since it has “neither force nor will, but merely judgment.” [*] While it is true that Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers as propaganda to garner support for the Constitution by convincing New Yorkers that it would not take away their rights and liberties, it is also true that Article III of the Constitution was deliberately vague about the powers of the Judicial Branch to allow future generations to decide what exactly those powers should be. In the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, established the Court’s power of judicial review. However, as Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of American History, argued, “This was such an astonishing thing to do that the Court didn’t declare another federal law unconstitutional for fifty-four years” after declaring the Judicial Act of 1789 unconstitutional in Marbury v. Madison. [*Jill Lepore] Alexander Hamilton was incorrect in his assertion that the Judicial Branch is the least dangerous to political rights and the weakest of the three government branches because judicial review has made the Supreme Court more powerful than he had anticipated. From 1803 to today, the controversial practice of judicial activism in the Supreme Court has grown—as exemplified by the differing decisions in Minor v. Happersett and United States v. Virginia—which, in effect, has increased the power of the Supreme Court to boundaries beyond those that Alexander Hamilton stated in Federalist 78.
The life of every American citizen, whether they realize it or not, is influenced by one entity--the United States Supreme Court. This part of government ensures that the freedoms of the American people are protected by checking the laws that are passed by Congress and the actions taken by the President. While the judicial branch may have developed later than its counterparts, many of the powers the Supreme Court exercises required years of deliberation to perfect. In the early years of the Supreme Court, one man’s judgement influenced the powers of the court systems for years to come. John Marshall was the chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, and as the only lasting Federalist influence in a newly Democratic-Republican government, he and his fellow justices sought to perpetuate their Federalist principles in the United States’ court system. In one of the most memorable court cases of all time--the case of Marbury v. Madison-- Marshall established the idea of judicial review and strengthened the power of the judicial branch in the government. Abiding by his Federalist ideals, Marshall decided cases that would explicitly limit the power of the state government and broaden the strengths of the national government. Lastly, the Marshall Court was infamous for determining the results of cases that dealt with the interpretation of the Constitution and the importance of contracts in American society. The Marshall Court, over the span of a mere three decades, managed to influence the life of every American citizen even to this day by impacting the development of the judicial branch, establishing a boundary between the state and national government, and making declarations on the sanctity of contracts ("The Marshall Court"...
This case involved the Judiciary Act because Marbury ordered a writ of mandamus on Madison. This request lacked jurisdiction because of Section 13 of the Judiciary Act which states that a “court issue of such a writ is unconstitutional and therefore invalid” (Cases and Codes). This case also involves Article 3 of the constitution which helped the justices decide that they did not have original jurisdiction over the case, and allowed them to review Congress for their unconstitutional expansion of power (“Article III.").
“Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, which laid the foundation for the current U.S. national judicial system by creating a complex three-tier system of federal courts,” (Neubauer 53). U.S. Supreme Court is at the top, consisting of a chief justice and five associate justices, 13 district courts at the base, each presided over by a district judge (Neubauer 53). In the middle was a circuit court in every district, each composed of two Supreme Court justices, who rode the circuit, and one district court judge (Neubauer 53). It is known that, “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish,” (Neubauer 52). It is stated in Marbury v. Madison that, “The power remains to the legislature, to assign original jurisdiction to that court in other cases than those specified in the article which has been recited; provided those cases belong to the judicial power of the United States,” (Marbury v. Madison). Ultimately, Marbury v. Madison declares that “the power of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the constitution is written,” (Marbury v.
These early Supreme Court decisions have made a lasting impression on the United States. Marbury v. Madison established the concept of judicial review that strengthened the ability of the judcicary to act as a check against the legislative and executive branches by providing for the review of Congressional acts by the judiciary to determine the constitutionality of such acts. McCulloch v. Maryland allowed for the expansion of Congress’ implied powers needed to execute its delegated powers as well as defined the supremacy of constitutionally enacted federal entities over state statutes.