Marbury V. Madison 1803: Supreme Court Case

W Marbury v Madison 1803 will forever and always be a Supreme Court Case that will live infamously in today’s history. During the election of 1800 against incumbent president John Adams of the Federalist Party versus the Anti-Federalist Party nominee Thomas Jefferson, with Jefferson being the victor. Before Adams were to leave the presidential office, he made what is called “midnight appointments” of new judgeships to counter act the Jeffersonians once in office. John Marshall, who was secretary of state of the time, failed to deliver seventeen commissions, one of which belonged to William Marbury. James Madison, Marshall’s successor, failed to deliver the rest of the appointments at the request of Thomas Jefferson. Marbury decided to sue Madison in efforts to force Madison to give him his appoint. He sought writ of mandamus, which is simply a court order directing a government official to perform a certain act (O'Brien, 2014). Marbury argued that Madison was required to issue his commission because the Judiciary Act 1789 authorized the Supreme Court to make such as the writ of …show more content…
Marshall’s ruling for Marbury v Madison was one of the most controversial decisions to ever be handed down from the Supreme Court. The landmark decision ultimately made the Judicial branch the most powerful branch because of the judicial review. With judicial review the Supreme Court has the ability to interpret the Constitution or any law any way that the court sees fit accordance to the law. Marshall’s ruling was clear and concise. Marbury did have the right to his appoint under law. Marbury had the right to seek a remedy because he deemed himself injured but the Supreme Court could not issue the writ because it was not of original jurisdiction. If Marbury was to have went through a lower level court, the court would have issued the writ and taken his appointment as the chief justice of