Marbury v. Madison
In November 1800 John Adams, President of the United States lost the election to Thomas Jefferson (65 to 39) . He also lost the control of Congress. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson was Republican. They both believed that victory by the other person will be a disaster for the nation. As one of his last acts, Adams convinced the Congress to pass a new law which will grant him the power to appoint new judges. Three of the new justices of peace could not been appointed because Adam’s office ended and his secretary failed to deliver the official documents. One of these judges was William Marbury. When Jefferson found out that Adams is trying to fill the courts with Federalist judges he asked his Secretary of State, James …show more content…
This is called judicial review. If a law violates the terms of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the right to invalidate that law. Because of the judicial review the Supreme Court plays an important role in the well-functioning of the law system. It prevents the different sectors of government to abuse their power. According to these facts the U.S. Supreme Court has the ability to exercise judicial review of legislative acts and declare them …show more content…
Madison there is a hierarchy between the Constitution and federal legislative acts. Constitution should always be above the federal legislative acts.
The main arguments used by the Supreme Court were that if the court issued the writ of mandamus it would not matter anyway because they had no power to enforce it with the result that president Jefferson could just easily neglect it. Another argument was that if the Supreme Court refused to issue the writ then it would mean that they backed down before Jefferson. The final reason was that the Supreme Court declared the law of Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional because it granted too much power to the court above the Constitution.
The final decision of the case showed that Jefferson’s secretary, James Madison had no right to prevent William Marbury from taking his office as a justice of peace. But on the other hand the Supreme Court has no power to force Jefferson and his secretary to let Marbury take his position because they would ignore what the court says. The law upon which Marbury’s claim was based on was declared by Chief Justice John Marshall unconstitutional . So after all that happened William Marbury could not become a justice of peace of the district
In November 1800 John Adams, President of the United States lost the election to Thomas Jefferson (65 to 39) . He also lost the control of Congress. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson was Republican. They both believed that victory by the other person will be a disaster for the nation. As one of his last acts, Adams convinced the Congress to pass a new law which will grant him the power to appoint new judges. Three of the new justices of peace could not been appointed because Adam’s office ended and his secretary failed to deliver the official documents. One of these judges was William Marbury. When Jefferson found out that Adams is trying to fill the courts with Federalist judges he asked his Secretary of State, James …show more content…
This is called judicial review. If a law violates the terms of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the right to invalidate that law. Because of the judicial review the Supreme Court plays an important role in the well-functioning of the law system. It prevents the different sectors of government to abuse their power. According to these facts the U.S. Supreme Court has the ability to exercise judicial review of legislative acts and declare them …show more content…
Madison there is a hierarchy between the Constitution and federal legislative acts. Constitution should always be above the federal legislative acts.
The main arguments used by the Supreme Court were that if the court issued the writ of mandamus it would not matter anyway because they had no power to enforce it with the result that president Jefferson could just easily neglect it. Another argument was that if the Supreme Court refused to issue the writ then it would mean that they backed down before Jefferson. The final reason was that the Supreme Court declared the law of Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional because it granted too much power to the court above the Constitution.
The final decision of the case showed that Jefferson’s secretary, James Madison had no right to prevent William Marbury from taking his office as a justice of peace. But on the other hand the Supreme Court has no power to force Jefferson and his secretary to let Marbury take his position because they would ignore what the court says. The law upon which Marbury’s claim was based on was declared by Chief Justice John Marshall unconstitutional . So after all that happened William Marbury could not become a justice of peace of the district