Case Brief Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch (5U.S.) 137, 2 L.Ed.60 (1803) Court: United States Supreme Court Judicial History: William Marbury brought his suit to the U.S Supreme Court seeking a writ of mandamus from the court. Thus directing James Madison, the Secretary of State, to accept the remaining commissions signed by former president, John Adams. Mandamus was not requested by lower courts because the U.S Supreme court had the jurisdiction to bring forth such actions, under the Judicial Act of 1789. Hence the case was never reviewed by lower courts.
The Supreme Court recognized that Judicial Review must also be cultivated into Judicial Sovereignty; the idea that a law may be held unconstitutional and binding on the other branches. The nation-state relationship served as the greatest obstacle for the Supreme Court in preserving the Union. In order to preserve the American Union the Supreme Court steered the cases, of the period, in order to create a consolidated nation-state. Preserving the American Union is reflected in all decisions of the cases the cases that fallow. In the case Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court invalidated a law, passed by Congress, by declaring an act unconstitutional for the first time.
Ogden claimed that this was true only for goods, not navigation. Gibbons then sued Ogden for entry into the state and the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. John Marshall ruled in favor of Gibbons, determining that it was within the federal government’s power to control navigation and that the regulation of “commerce” included laws of navigation. Conduction of interstate commerce was a power reserved to Congress, Marshall ruled. I believe that Marshall granted this case cert.
Congress had the power to create a court for resolving cases in which private American vessels captured enemy merchant vessels. Congress, however, lacked the effective power to enforce the court's decisions. Moreover, Congress could not create a general judiciary for handling cases under the nation's laws. Seven states sent delegates to a convention in Annapolis, Maryland, in September 1786 to discuss America's commercial problems under the Articles of Confederation. The delegates decided to ask Congress to call a national convention for revising the Articles.
The power of the judiciary is to supervise the legislative and executive branches, with their job being to review the law, and interpret the constitution. If an action is unconstitutional, the justices’ job, during judicial review, is to pass judgment on the constitutionality of what our elected representatives have decided. The judicial review was not established until 1803 after a case heard by the United States Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury V. Madison. During the election of 1800, John Adams, Federalist, was not re-elected and was beat by Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican. This left John Adams in a lame duck session.
Thomas Gibbons, another steamboat operator, competed with Aaron Ogden on this same route but held a federal coasting license issued by an act of Congress. Ogden filed a complaint in New York court to stop Gibbons from operating his boats, claiming that the monopoly granted by New York was legal even though he operated on shared, interstate waters. Gibbons disagreed arguing that the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the sole power over interstate commerce. After losing twice in New York courts, Gibbons appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court determined that the commerce clause of the Constitution grants the federal government the power to determine how interstate commerce is conducted.
Martin Luther argued that the charter was not “a republican form of government” and all acts thus far are not binding. The question was whether or not the Court had the authority to declare which policy could be called the government of Rhode Island. The Court held that the federal courts did not have the authority nor is it the courts function to decide “political” matters; it is the responsibility of the President and Congress. Another example is how Chief Justice Roberts upheld the Constitutionality of ObamaCare. He contended that the health insurance mandate was lawful under Congress’ power to “lay and collect taxes.” Roberts said that “the text of a statute can sometimes have more than one possible meaning” and the “the government asks us to interpret the mandate as imposing a tax.” In contrast to Judicial restraint, Judicial activism is the idea that judges should actively interpret the Constitution and make policy decisions in new ways.
I believe the Constitution did a better job of protecting liberties, specifically in the areas of the federal court system, representation of the people, and the levy of taxes. Alexander Hamilton, statesman and economist, proclaimed "Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation”. The Articles of Confederation which gave rise to the Confederation government that took effect in March 1781, did not give the national government any means to enforce the federal laws. The states could, and often did, choose to interpret or enforce federal laws in any manner they saw fit. This led to disputes amongst the states that could not be readily settled, as it relied on each state’s court system which invariably chose to discount the ruling of the other states.
They forced him to make decisions based off of the constitution with no precedent. He created the precedent for these cases’ conclusions. These precedents carry through time and lead to now, still having an effect on the United States. Marbury versus Madison was an influential Supreme Court case in US history. The case was developed because Marbury did not receive his commission from the previous Secretary of State which was John Marshall.
Jefferson’s main argument on the unconstitutionality of the Alien and Sedition act were that they both violated the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people (document 31). Jefferson had proposed that through the Constitution, it expressly declared that congress shall make no law…of the press (document 31) stating that any law the Congress passes to abridge the freedom of speech and press could no be considered a forceful law and instead by voided. Jefferson opposed the Alien acts through his fifth resolution in the Kentucky Resolustion: he argues that any individual who migrates from any state shall have proper rights to admit and would not be prohibited by the Congress prior to year 1808.