Midnight Judges Dbq

In the year 1803 the case of Marbury v. Madison was brought before the Supreme Court in order to address the issue of William Marbury’s appointment as federal circuit judge. This created a unique and complex challenge for the Supreme Court of the time because they were operating under no legal precedent, which meant that they had no prior cases to reference to reach a ruling. The issue came to a head after the Judiciary Act of 1801 allowed for President John Adams to appoint sixteen new circuit judges one of them being William Marbury. However, before Secretary of State Marshall ran out of time before he was able to deliver Marbury’s appointment. When the new Secretary of State James Madison entered office, he refused to deliver Marbury’s appointment, claiming that it was too late. Outraged, Marbury filed a writ of mandamus against Madison in order to force him to complete the specified action, which in this case was to deliver the commission. However, through complex political maneuvering the Judiciary Act of 1802, was enacted which repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801 reestablishing the Judiciary Act of 1789 and postponing the case until 1803. One of the key issues in the case was then if William Marbury was entitled to a remedy for the deprivation of his right to his commission. Chief Justice John Marshall with a narrow and technical ruling then determined that since President Adams with his signature had completed Marbury’s commission of appointment he was entitled to the

The overall influence of the Supreme Court under John Marshall can be understood through the five main court cases over which he presided; Marbury v. Madison (1803), Fletcher v. Peck (1810), Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819), McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824). The first significant case Marshall was faced with was Marbury v. Madison in 1803. In the last few days of his presidency, John Adams appointed members of the Federalist Party to the new offices he created within the judicial branch. When Thomas Jefferson took office he told James Madison, his secretary of state, not to deliver the unsent commissions to some of the “midnight appointments”, one of who was William Marbury. He appealed to the Supreme Court, asking for a court order that would require Madison to send out the commission, which was part of his job. The Judiciary Act of 1789 supported Marbury’s demands because it authorized the Supreme Court to order

The Constitution pays a massive role in court decisions both in the federal and state cases. If the State Supreme Court cannot come to a decision on a case, the case will be turned over to the Supreme Court who has the final authority in interpreting the meaning of the Constitution in any case. The courts also have the power of judicial review—to declare a law unconstitutional. Due to the decision of Chief Justice John Marshall the Supreme Court has this power from the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1801. The case Marbury v. Madison took place during the election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson defeated President John Adams, but the new administration did not take office until March of 1801. When the new administration took office James Madison (Secretary of State) discovered that some commissions were not delivered. One of the people whose commission had not been received

There was a long lame duck period between the November election and the inauguration of a new president, and the Congress that met in December 1800 was the old Congress. The Federalist controlled Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801, which created circuit courts of appeal, and relieved the justices of the Supreme Court of their obligation to travel around the country to hear cases. It also increased the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Adams immediately appointed several new judges and the Senate confirmed the 16 new judges to these courts, all Federalists. James Madison was one of the 42 Justices of the Peace that were also created with the Judiciary Act of 1801. These Justices served the Washington and Virginia areas. It is also important to know that all of these Justices were also Federalists. Adams was trying to stack the Judiciary with the outgoing Federalist Party members. Many of these Justices were qualified to hold these jobs however.

With the young nation of America entered into the 19th century, there were still major issues when it came to the balance of powers of the different government branches. The status of judicial review in the Supreme Court was never pressed upon or given any real structure to. The power of judicial review had appeared many times in history before the set up of the Supreme Court as, in England, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Edward Coke made the originated the idea . During the ruling of the case of Dr. Bonham’s Case, Coke found that the London College of Physicians had no right to levy fines against anyone who violated their rules. He would later go on to state that, “no person should be a judge in his own case” (Fletcher 12). The act was revolutionary at the time as it set the notion of that an official body of government was needed to give fair governess to the people. The idea would pop up once in a while in events such as the Constitutional Convention where records that were kept by the textbook University of Chicago Law Review saw that “13 out of the 15 delegates made statements that were in support of the idea of judicial review” (Prakash 123). The interesting part about the quote is that it states that the idea of judicial review was in place in America many years before the actually case of Marbury v. Madison. Even in the Federalist Papers No. 78 which was published in May 28, 1788, by Alexander Hamilton, went into lengthy discussion about judicial review. In

“In spite of the founders’ fears, two major-political factions – the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were formed even before the Constitution was ratified.” Sidlow, 2015, P 143) Federalists wanted stronger national government and Anti-Federalist (Jefferson Republicans) wanted states’ rights and feared government could become too powerful. In the election of 1796 was the first time candidates from different political party systems held strongly opposed party principles and this time period defined political life as we know it. For the next twenty years the Jefferson Republicans dominated American Politics. In the 1820’s the Jefferson Republicans split into two groups, supporters of Andrews Jackson called their party the Democrats, and the other group called themselves the National Republican Party (Whig Party). During the 1840’s and 1850’s Democrats and Whigs competed for the White House and the two party system fully emerged

The 1800 realignment was the decline of the Federalist party and the rise of the Democrats and the Republicans. The federalist lost a lot of seats in Congress and had a hard time competing for the Presidency and in 1820 didn’t run a candidate in the 1820 election. The Hamiltonians and the Jeffersonians squared of over the scope and power of the federal government. The Hamiltonians were in favor of federal government and executive power and the Jeffersonians in favor of state government and legislative power.

The establishment of one of the most influential powers of the Supreme Court--the power of judicial review-- and the development of the judicial branch can be attributed to Marshall’s insightful interpretation of the Constitution ("The Marshall Court”).

Between 1790 and 1840, there was a successful transfer of political power from the Federalist Party to the Republican Party. The election of 1800 marked the first time in American history where a president was elected from an opposing and entirely new party. Thomas Jefferson, the first Republican president, had Anti-Federalist ideas and an entirely different vision of America altogether. From 1801-1825, the Republican Party dominated the office and with open-minded ideas they introduced unity among Americans and brought an ending to the Federalist Party altogether. The decline of the Federalist Party after the Hartford Convention resulted in the reelection of Republican leaders and another war with Britain that led to the nation developing

The election of 1800 was a major event in the history of the United States of America. This elections marks the end of the Federalists as the leaders of this great newly independent small power. The Federalists had always wanted a strongly unified government and opposed having two political parties whereas the Republicans opposed giving too much power to the national government. Having for leader the great and venerated George Washington, the Federalists had a lot of influence; after all he is the first President of the United States and also became the commander of the U.S. Army under John Adams' presidency. The issue started when a cold war was happening with the French, the Federalists wanted a war against the French while the Republicans were against it.

Between 1801 and 1825, Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Q. Adams were all affiliated with the Democratic-Republican Party (Milkis and Nelson 560). Although President Andrew Jackson was associated with the Democratic Party, this was due to the Democratic-Republicans factions splitting the party in two, with the Democratic Party dictating “itself to the traditional Democratic-Republican principles of states’ rights and a narrow interpretation of the national government’s constitutional powers” (Milkis and Nelson 131). However, this has less to do with the Democratic-Republican/Democrats and more to do with the Federalists, who began unraveling following their defeat in the election of

Established in 1789, the Supreme Court was created to interpret the meaning of the Constitution and to use that interpretation to declare any actions of the Legislative or Executive Branches unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court was capable of also acquiring more functions as evidence of the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison (1803). The case dealt with President John Adams appointing sixteen new circuit court justices for the District of Colombia. Adams appointed these justices so that his political party would have more justices than the rival party. Problematically, the appointment letters were not delivered by the end of his term. By that basis, President Thomas Jefferson annulled the appointments because he retained the right to appoint the justices during his time of jurisdiction. Consequently, this aggravated the appointed justice and therefore one of the justices named William Marbury filed a case in the Supreme Court over the commissions that they were promised (Goldstone). The Court ruled that Marbury did have a right to commission and also with it made a statement that enacted the doctrine of Judicial Review. This meant that the court had the "right to review, and possibly nullify, laws and governmental acts that violate the constitution. Judicial Review is a means of assuring that politicians and various other leaders adhere to the constitution and do not use powers granted to them by

Back in 1800, John Adams was President of the United States and was approaching the end his first term and lost his bid for reelection to Thomas Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson where of two opposing parties (Adams Federalists, Jefferson Republican) and the Federalist were losing their grip on the white house, before Jefferson could officially take office Adams was still President for a few more months. Adams used his remaining time in power to persuade Congress to pass the Judiciary act of 1801, giving Adams the power appoint several new judges. Adam’s plan was to make Jefferson’s Presidency as hard as possible by packing the court with Federalist who would naturally oppose any policies from Jefferson’s Republican Administration. Adams was fairly successful in doing this and was able to appoint 39 new judges but failed to deliver 3 commissions to would be judges, one of them being William Marbury.

By 1800, the Federalist Party was divided, clearing the way to the presidency for the Democratic Republicans. Federalists like Washington and Adams wanted the federal government to have most of the power in the United States. The non-Federalists, Jefferson and Madison, during that time wanted a small federal government with very little power. They were very much concerned with state rights and individual freedom for the people. The political shift from Federalists, Washington and Adams, to Democratic-Republicans, Jefferson and Madison, resulted in non-Federalists coming to power and a shifting of government focus, the repealing of policies such as the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Judiciary Act of 1808, and westward expansion.

Back in the year 1801, President John Adams used his last few days as president to appoint a large number of federalist justices. However, even though all of the commissions were approved by the senate, Thomas Jefferson told the clerk not to deliver them. Due to this order, William Marbury did not receive his commission. Angered by this, he went to the courts whle citing Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 to issue writs of mandamus. However, the courts did not think that Jefferson and Madison would endorse this claim because they believed the the court should not have the authority to interfere with the executive.