Transcript Marbury vs. Madison

Marbury vs. Madison
Judicial Review is established.
Presidential Election of 1800
Thomas Jefferson
(Republican party) defeats
John Adams (Federalist
party) in the presidential
election of 1800.
Adams’ last day in office is
March 3, 1801.
Night of March 3, 1801:
Adams issues 62 commissions
appointing “midnight justices” at
9:00 pm. Senate confirms.
What political party do you think
the judges Adams appointed
belonged to? Why did he do
this?
If he appointed as many
Federalist judges as possible,
Adams felt it would counteract
Jefferson’s Republican policies.
So Adams gave his secretary of
state, John Marshall, the
position of Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court.
Adams signed the other
commissions & turned them
over to Marshall to deliver the
rest of them.
But Marshall did not have time
to seal & send out all of the
commissions. Instead, he left a
few of them on his desk.
March 4, 1801:
• Jefferson learns of appointments:
“an outrage on decency” and
“personally unkind.”
• Jefferson’s new Secretary of State,
James Madison, was left with the
task of delivering the rest of the
commissions.
• But Jefferson angrily orders the
remaining commissions withheld.
• A man named William Marbury is
one of the men who expected to
receive his commission, but did not
get it.
So, Marbury sues and appeals to the
Supreme Court to get Madison to
award him the position.
 Thus, the court case
titled: Marbury v. Madison
(1803)
William Marbury, along
with 2 others, requests the
Supreme Court to order
Madison to distribute the
commissions.
The Court is empowered by Congress
to issue a writ of mandamus
 Writ of mandamus = Supreme Court order directing
an official to perform a duty in any court case
This is a law that can be found in Section 13 of the
Judiciary Act of 1789
What is the Supreme
Court’s dilemma?
If the Court issues the writ,
Madison & Jefferson would
ignore it
This would be damaging to the
Supreme Court’s reputation loss of power & prestige
If they do not issue the writ,
the judges would be accused
of conspiracy
John Marshall realizes that this
is a conflict of interest, on his
part
What would you do?
The Verdict (It’s a long one):
 Marbury was entitled to his commission &
Madison should have delivered it to him.
 BUT:
But according to Article III of the Constitution, the
Supreme Court has original jurisdiction of a case
only when an ambassador or foreign minister is
involved
Thus, Marbury cannot receive
his commission for the
following reasons:
Marbury is not an ambassador or
a foreign minister.
The Supreme Court cannot even
issue a writ of mandamus in
Marbury’s case because it would
violate the Constitution.
Thus, Section 13 of the Judiciary
Act of 1789 is unconstitutional.
It was a brilliant move.
Marshall effectively posed the question:
Should the Supreme Court enforce an
unconstitutional law? Of course not.
Marshall by-passed the whole FederalistRepublican issue while at the same time
giving more powers to the Supreme
Court.
Lasting Impact of Marbury vs.
Madison (1803)
This is the first time the Supreme Court overturns
an act of Congress.
Checks & balances in action!
Judicial Review is established - Supreme Court’s
ability to declare a law or act unconstitutional
Judicial Review is one of the
informal ways the Constitution
can be changed
 Judicial Review does not amend the
Constitution, but it does change the way
it is interpreted.
Another way the Constitution
can be informally amended:
 The elastic clause aka “Necessary and
proper”
 Says that Congress can do anything
necessary and proper to carry out the
expressed powers
 Example: Used in expanding the role of
Congress in interstate commerce. Due to the
elastic clause, Congress could regular
anything that crosses state borders