Marbury v Madison
In the year 1803 for the first time the Supreme Court announced that a court may declare an act of judicial review to determine its compatibility with the constitution. This is one of the most important cases in the Supreme Court history. After a defeat by Thomas Jefferson and his newly organized Democratic-Republic party against President John Adams of the Federalist Party. President Adams and his party went through a panic state after the loss and in the last days of presidency he appointed a mass number of new justices of peace for the District of Columbia. All the commissions cleared through senate, and signed by John Adams himself. Time passed and the commissions were not delivered before the end of President Adams term as President Jefferson claimed office on March 5 1801. The new president Jefferson ordered his secretary of state not to deliver the commissions, and refused to honor them. His claim was that they were not valid because they were not delivered before the end of John Adam’s term as president. The intended recipient of the commissions was William…show more content… It was ruled by the Chief of Justice that the court lacked the power to grant the writ under Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789. While the Act of 1789 granted the Court the power to issue writs of mandamus, it was rule that this exceeded the authority allotted under Article III of the US Constitution. That therefore rendered the writ null and void. The power to bring cases directly to Supreme Court under Article III only applied to cases where they affected ambassadors, and public ministers, and also cases where the state is a party. The court then ruled that Marbury was entitled to his commission, but according to the Constitution the court did not have the power to order Madison to deliver the commission to