Marbury v. Madison 1 CR. (5 U.S.) 137 (1803) PART 1

So this is really the big one. The case that set up everything that the Supreme Court does today. Yet, it is striking how many people actually have no idea what happened in this case. To be fair, it was not a simple situation by any stretch. Furthermore, the big result (not to spoil it but JUDICIAL REVIEW) had very little to do with much of the historical background surrounding the case. So, I believe that this case requires a bit of finesse and therefore I am going to split it into three parts: 1) background, 2) the decision made by the Court, and 3) the creation of judicial review and what judicial review is. Let's begin.

BACKGROUND

The 1800 presidential election was between incumbent president John Adams (FEDERALIST: all power to the national government) and Thomas Jefferson (ANTIFEDERALIST: hurray states' rights). In short, Adams and the Federalists lost big; the presidency and both houses of Congress.

Whatever your political views may be, the departure of the Federalists was less than graceful. Following their loss of two branches of government, the Federalists made an effort to secure the one remaining branch. The Circuit Court Act, or "Midnight Judges Act," created six new circuit courts and created sixteen new positions to be appointed (all by the lame-duck Federalist president and Congress). Furthermore, the Federalist Congress also passed the Organic Act of 1801, which allowed Adams to appoint forty-two justices of the peace for the District of Columbia. The stage was now set for the most important case in the history of the Supreme Court.

Marbury (the one from the title) was one of the justices appointed by Adams at the end of his administration. Marbury was appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. However, his appointment was not delivered by the outgoing secretary of state (interestingly, John Marshall, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). When Jefferson became president, he ordered his secretary of state, James Madison, not to deliver the undelivered commissions (including the one for Marbury).

In response, Marbury went to the Supreme Court and asked them to issue a (literally: we command) to Madison, ordering the new Secretary of State to deliver the appointments. Marbury was able to sue under a provision in the Judiciary Act of 1789 that allowed the Court to issue writs of mandamus to anyone holding federal office.

Before closing this section, I'd like to point to the conflicted position of the new Chief Justice, John Marshall. As mentioned earlier, he was secretary of state under the former president John Adams and was now being asked to rule on the issue of an appointment made by Adams. The Federalists were looking to Marshall to rule on their side. However, Marshall was conscious of the danger in causing a fight with Jefferson and the Antifederalists (Jefferson and Congress were actually considering impeaching some of the federal judges including Marshall). The stage was set for what would become the most important case in the history of the Supreme Court.