Resources & Links
- Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803): JustiaCongress does not have the power to pass laws that override the Constitution, such as by expanding the scope of the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction...
- Marbury v. Madison: History ChannelMarbury v. Madison (1803) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established for the first time that federal courts had the power to overturn an act of Congress on the ground that it violated the U.S. Constitution...
- WILLIAM MARBURY v. JAMES MADISON, Secretary of State of the United States: Cornell Law SchoolAT the December term 1801, William Marbury, Dennis Ramsay, Robert Townsend Hooe, and William Harper, by their counsel severally moved the court for a rule to James Madison, secretary of state of the United States, to show cause why a mandamus should not issue commanding him to cause to be delivered to them respectively their several commissions as justices of the peace in the district of Columbia...
Archives, Research, & Reference
- Marbury v. Madison (1803): National ArchivesIn 1801, outgoing President John Adams had issued William Marbury a commission as justice of the peace — but the new Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver it. Marbury then sued to obtain it. With his decision in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review, an important addition to the system of “checks and balances” created to prevent any one branch of the Federal Government from becoming too powerful...
- Marbury v. Madison: Bill of Rights InstituteIn the unanimous 1803 Supreme Court decision Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall famously declared: “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each.” And although Marbury is best known for clearly establishing the concept of judicial review, it is also a case that was defined at every level by the political battles of the early 1800s between the Federalists, who were fighting to retain political power, and the Jeffersonian Republicans, who were fighting to consolidate it after their electoral victory...
- Marbury v. Madison: BritannicaMarbury v. Madison, legal case in which, on February 24, 1803, the U.S. Supreme Court first declared an act of Congress unconstitutional, thus establishing the doctrine of judicial review. The court’s opinion, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, is considered one of the foundations of U.S. constitutional law...
- Marbury v. Madison: Credo ReferenceMarbury v. Madison was the first significant decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court after John Marshall was sworn in as its chief justice in 1801. In Marbury, for the first time, the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional; it would not do so again until Dred Scott v. Sandford struck down the Missouri Compromise in 1857. Marbury was not the Court’s first exercise of judicial review—the power to determine the constitutionality of legislative and administrative acts—but by declaring the Court the final arbiter of constitutional questions, this seminal decision fully empowered the third branch of government, making the concept of federal checks and balances a reality...
- Marbury v. Madison: LOCThe U.S. Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the principle of judicial review—the power of the federal courts to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional. The unanimous opinion was written by Chief Justice John Marshall...
Perspectives
Marbury vs. Madison
We take for granted today the tremendous power of the Supreme Court to interpret our laws and overrule any found in conflict with the Constitution. Yet our nation was a quarter-century old before that power of "judicial review" was fully articulated by the Court itself in Marbury v. Madison (1803). William Nelson's concise study of that landmark case provides an insightful and readable guide for students and general readers alike. On the surface, the case itself seems a minor one at best. William Marbury, a last-minute judicial appointee of outgoing Federalist president John Adams, demanded redress from the Supreme Court when his commission was not delivered. But Chief Justice John Marshall could clearly see the danger his demand posed for a weak court filled with Federalist judges. Wary of the Court's standing with the new Republican administration of Thomas Jefferson, Marshall hit upon a solution that was both principled and pragmatic. He determined that while Marbury was justified in his suit, the law on which his claim was based was in conflict with the Constitution. It was the first time that the Court struck down an act of Congress as unconstitutional, thus establishing the doctrine of judicial review, which designates the Court as chief interpreter of the Constitution.
Streaming Media
- Marbury Vs MadisonThe ground breaking decision, written by Chief Justice John Marshall and clarifying the power of the judiciary.
- John Marshall's CourtExplore the court of Chief Justice John Marshall. In major court cases like Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland, Marshall would devise a national judicial sovereignty to match the constitutional and economic sovereignty envisioned by Madison and Hamilton, and to save the United States from Jacobin Republicanism.