Case Study 1: Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 1 Cranch 137, 2 L. Ed. 60 (1803)
Melissa Carroll
Strayer University
LEG420
4/13/16
This study source was downloaded by 100000833408085 from CourseHero.com on 04-19-2022
...
Case Study 1: Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 1 Cranch 137, 2 L. Ed. 60 (1803)
Melissa Carroll
Strayer University
LEG420
4/13/16
This study source was downloaded by 100000833408085 from CourseHero.com on 04-19-2022 04:33:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/14154073/Marbury-v-Madison/
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Marbury V. Madison
Marbury V. Madison is termed as the most significant event in the United States Supreme
Court history. The case established the grounds for judicial review in the United States using the
provisions of Article III. The final decision also defined the boundaries within which the judicial
and executive branches of the government operate. This made the judiciary an independent arm
of the government at par with congress and the executive.
During the presidential elections of 1800, Thomas Jefferson, a democratic republican,
won and became the third President of the United States but he was not in power until March 4,
1801. During this interim period, the outgoing president Adams still controlled a lame-duck
government together with the sixth congress. It was also during this period that the congress
approved the Judiciary Act of 1801 as a modification to the Judiciary Act of 1789. Adams chose
numerous justices whose commissions were signed by the president, approved by the senate, and
had the government’s official seal. For the commissions to be effective, they had to be delivered
to the appointees, a task that fell on James Madison. Some of the appointed judges never
received their commissions and when President Jefferson got into office on March 5, he asked
James Madison, the then Secretary of State, to withhold delivery of the remaining commissions.
William Marbury was among the appointed judges who never got their commissions. He then
filed a case in the Supreme Court for a legal order to demand that Madison give the reason why
he never delivered the commissions, as was his responsibility.
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