Essay On Marbury Vs Madison Case

The Marbury v. Madison case, a Supreme Court case held in 1803, was the first time a law was ever declared unconstitutional. This case gave Congress as much power as the other branches. The Marbury v. Madison case gave the court the power of Judicial Review, this is why it is one of the most important cases in Supreme Court history.

Democratic Republicans, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, won the election of 1800 and the Democratic Republicans ran Congress. The Supreme Court, however, was run by Federalist, and John Adams wanted to keep it that way. John Adams had Congress pass a law that allowed him to appoint multiple new federal judges. This was known as The Midnight Appointments. Adams appointed thirty-nine judges before he left office. Three of the appointed judges did not get the commissions before Thomas Jefferson took office; William Marbury was one of the three. He was appointed

Since Marbury was legally appointed, he had the right to his commission. Therefore, the court was to write a writ saying he was to get his commission. However, Marshall declared that the court could not issue the writ because the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that gave the Supreme Court the power to issue the writ was unconstitutional because Article III of the Constitution did not give the Supreme Court this power. Congress could not give the court the power to pass the Judiciary Act of 1789 because it went against the Constitution. This led to the Supreme Court having the power of Judicial Review. Judicial Review is when the Supreme Court reviews a law passed by the legislative branch to see if it is constitutional or not. The Supreme Court received this power because of the Marbury v. Madison case. Since the Supreme Court has the final say on what the Constitution means, they get to decide if a law follows the