Marbury v Madison
Storyboard Text
- Slide: 1
- I, madison decided not to deliver the comssion because marbury was among the last of my appointments
- I, Marshall, a the judge of this here case!
- Deciding not to give me the comission just because I was a late appointment is not fair and is unconstitutional!
- Slide: 2
- But he was a very late appointment, I would have had to deliver the commission and go back to my own activities
- Madison, your decision to not deliver the commission was illegal.
- It doesn't matter! That's your job!
- Slide: 3
- Background: Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the 1800 presidential election. Before Jefferson took office on March 4, 1801, Adams and Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801, which created new courts, added judges, and gave the president more control over appointment of judges. The Act was essentially an attempt by Adams and his party to frustrate his successor, as he used the act to appoint 16 new circuit judges and 42 new justices of the peace. The appointees were approved by the Senate, but they would not be valid until their commissions were delivered by the Secretary of State.
- Order in the court! Here is the decision of the judge: not order Madison to hand over Marbury’s commission via writ of mandamus. Instead, the Court held that the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 enabling Marbury to bring his claim to the Supreme Court was itself unconstitutional, since it purported to extend the Court’s original jurisdiction beyond that which Article III, Section 2, established. In so holding, Marshall established the principle of judicial review, i.e., the power to declare a law unconstitutional.
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