Marbury v. Madison

Case Analysis of Marbury v . Madison

In Marbury v . Madison , the U .S . Supreme Court asserted its power to review acts of Congress and invalidate those that conflict with the Constitution

In an article in the FindLaw , one of the leading legal research sites in the United States , it gave a background of the facts of the Marbury Case

During the first two administrations , President George Washington and President John Adams appointed only Federalist Party members to administration and judiciary positions . When Thomas Jefferson won the 1800 election , President Adams

, a Federalist , proceeded to rapidly fill the judiciary bench with members of his own party , who would serve for life during "good behavior " In response , Jeffersonian Republicans repealed the Judiciary Act of 1800 , which had created several new judgeships and circuit courts with Federalist judges , and threatened impeachment if the Supreme Court overturned the repeal statute . Although President Adams attempted to fill the vacancies prior to the end of his term , he had not delivered a number of commissions ( Marbury v Madison (1803 ' n .d

There was sufficient proof that the appointments , including the appointment of Marbury as justice of the peace , were signed by President Adams , with advice and consent of the Senate , and was affixed with the seal of the United States . However , Marbury 's commission was not delivered as required by John Marshall , Adams ' Secretary of State that when Thomas Jefferson assumed office , James Madison , the new Secretary of State , withheld the commission of Marbury and other persons including Dennis Ramsay , Robert Townsend Hooe , and William Harper who then petitioned the Court through a writ of mandamus to force Madison to deliver the commissions (Pohlmann , 2004 ,

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Three issues of law were settled by the Court , of which the last issue served as the point of departure for the most important ratio desidendi of this case - the assertion of judicial supremacy and the determination of the hierarchy of the Constitution over all other laws

The first issue was whether or not Marbury has a right to the commission he demands and the Court held in the affirmative that when a commission has been signed by the President the appointment is made and that the commission is complete when the seal of the United States has been affixed to it by the Secretary of State . More so , by signing the commission of Mr . Marbury , the President of the United States appointed him a justice of peace for the county of Washington , in the District of Columbia and that the seal of the United States , affixed thereto by the Secretary of State , is conclusive testimony of the verity of the signature , and of the completion of the appointment , and that the appointment conferred on him a legal right to the office for the space of five years (1 Cranch 137 , 1802

The second issue was whether or not the laws of the country afforded him a legal remedy if such a right exists and that right has been...