Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Marbury v. Madison established the principle of judicial review, the power of federal courts to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. It is the foundational decision of American constitutional law.

In the final days of John Adams' presidency, Congress passed a law creating new judgeships, which Adams hurriedly filled with Federalist allies. The commissions for several of these "midnight judges" had been signed but not delivered when Thomas Jefferson took office in March 1801. Jefferson's Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver them. One of the appointees, William Marbury, sued in the Supreme Court, asking the Court to order Madison to hand over his commission. Chief Justice John Marshall faced a difficult position. If the Court ordered the commission delivered, the Jefferson administration would likely ignore it, damaging the Court's prestige. If the Court refused, it would appear to capitulate. Marshall threaded the needle with one of the most consequential opinions in American history. He held that Marbury was entitled to his commission and that the law gave him a right to a remedy. But he then ruled that the specific section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that gave Marbury the right to sue directly in the Supreme Court was unconstitutional because it expanded the Court's original jurisdiction beyond what Article III allowed. The Court therefore could not hear the case. The decision avoided a direct confrontation with the executive branch while establishing a principle of far greater significance: the federal courts have the power to review acts of Congress and to refuse to enforce those they find inconsistent with the Constitution. The principle of judicial review is the constitutional foundation on which every later constitutional case rests. Marshall built it into the Court's authority with such craftsmanship that it has never been seriously challenged in the two centuries since.