Marbury v. Madison

I

Introduction

Marbury v. Madison, landmark court case of 1803 in which the Supreme Court of the United States established its authority to review and invalidate government actions that conflict with the Constitution of the United States. In Marbury, Chief Justice John Marshall, speaking for a unanimous Court, expressed for the first time the concept of judicial review at the federal level. Although the Court’s decision concerned only a minor provision of a federal law, the case is monumentally significant because it was the first time that the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress to be unconstitutional. Equally significant was Marshall’s reasoning in the case.

Today Marbury is generally considered to be the most important early U.S. Supreme Court decision and the leading precedent for the idea that the Court has the power—and the duty—to strike down acts of Congress that violate the Constitution. While central to modern jurisprudence, the case involved a rather technical set of facts and an issue of relatively minor importance.

II

The Election of 1800 and Adams’s Last Days

The presidential election of 1800—in which Thomas Jefferson defeated the incumbent president, John Adams—was quite bitter. Jefferson’s supporters asserted that Adams intended to crown himself king. Adams’s backers sharply criticized Jefferson for supporting France, especially during the French Revolution (1789-1799), and claimed that Jefferson would set up a guillotine on Capitol Hill to execute his opponents. Although the election was held in November 1800, under the law of the time Jefferson—and the newly elected Congress that his party would dominate—did not take office until March 4, 1801. In his final days as president, Adams attempted to fill the courts with members of his party, the Federalist Party.

In January Adams appointed Secretary of State John Marshall to be chief justice of the United States. The Senate immediately confirmed Marshall, but he remained secretary of state until the end of Adams’s term and did not actually assume his new office until March 3, 1801. As a result, Marshall, who would decide Marbury, was secretary of state at the time the events leading to the case took place and was a central participant in those events.

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In February, less than two weeks before Jefferson was inaugurated, the Federalist-dominated Congress adopted—and Adams signed—two statutes that set the stage for Marbury. The first, the Judiciary Act of 1801, created a number of new federal judgeships, which Adams promptly filled. This law also designated two terms for the Supreme Court to hear cases—one beginning in June and one beginning in December. (At the time, the Court conducted business until it ran out of work. Because it heard far fewer cases then, the Court met for only a few months at a time.) In the second act Congress created a government for the newly created national capital, the District of Columbia. This act empowered the president to appoint justices of the peace (magistrates) for the new city.

As with most federal appointments, these justices of the peace had to be confirmed by the Senate. After confirmation, the president would sign an official commission and the secretary of state would affix the Great Seal of the United States to the commission and deliver it to the appointed official. Just before leaving office, President Adams appointed a Maryland banker and politician, William Marbury, to one of the new posts. The Senate confirmed Marbury’s appointment, President Adams signed the commission, and Secretary of State John Marshall affixed the Great Seal on the commission. But in the rush of business during the final days of the Adams administration, Marshall failed to actually deliver the commission to Marbury (and at least three other appointees).

III

Marbury’s Lawsuit

Jefferson became president on March 4, 1801, and the new secretary of state was James Madison. When Marbury and three others asked Madison for their commissions, the secretary of state, acting under orders from President Jefferson, refused to deliver the commissions. Marbury and the others then turned to the Supreme Court, asking it to issue a writ of mandamus ordering Secretary of State Madison to turn over the commissions. (A writ of mandamus is a court order directing a public official to perform his or her public duties. It applies to duties that an officeholder is required by law to perform—rather than acts within the discretion of the officeholder.)

As a preliminary measure in the mandamus action, in December 1801 Chief Justice Marshall issued an order to Secretary of State Madison directing him to explain why the Court should not issue the writ compelling him to deliver Marbury’s commission. Madison was supposed to respond during the next term of the Supreme Court, scheduled to begin in June 1802. However, in March 1802 Congress intervened, passing the Judiciary Act of 1802. Among other things, this act changed the Supreme Court’s schedule to one single annual term, commencing in February. When Marshall had ordered Madison to respond to the writ of mandamus at the next term of the Supreme Court, Marshall had assumed that the term would be six months later, in June 1802. Instead, the next term was in February 1803. Because of the Judiciary Act of 1802, the Supreme Court did not meet at all from December 1801 until February 1803.

IV

Marshall’s Dilemma

When the Supreme Court finally met, Madison ignored the Court’s order, failing to appear or to send a lawyer to appear for him. This left Marshall in a dilemma. At this stage he might easily have decided in favor of Marbury, especially because Madison offered no counterarguments or defense. However, Marshall believed that Madison would ignore any order from the Supreme Court. This would humiliate the Court and make it appear powerless.

On the other hand, to side with Madison would not ensure justice. Marshall believed that Marbury had a legal right to his commission and that Madison had a legal duty to give Marbury the commission. Furthermore, Marshall's political sympathies were with Marbury. They were members of the same party and Marshall had been secretary of state in the administration that appointed Marbury to his office.

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