When John Adams appointed Federalists to various judicial positions before his term ended, James Madison discarded 17 commissions for justice of the peace, rather than delivering them to the men appointed. Though many of the men did not care about this position, Marbury filed a suit in the Supreme Court, demanding the order of the commission. John Marshall ruled that Marbury had a right to the commission. However, during this ruling, John Marshall declared an act of Congress to be unconstitutional. Marshall said that this law, the Judiciary Act of 1789, could not be used because it authorized an action which the constitution did not allow. As a result, the Supreme Court became the final arbiter of what Congress, the Executive Branch,
