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John Adams Supreme Court Case

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At the end of his presidency in 1801, John Adams set out to appoint 42 new justices of the peace and 16 circuit judges under the Judiciary Act of 1801. The act allowed for ten new district courts, giving Adams the authority to appoint federal judges and justices of the peace. His purpose was to have the judiciary branch under federalist control before Thomas Jefferson succeeded the office. The commissions were signed by John Adams and sealed by his acting secretary of state John Marshall and are now known as the “midnight appointments”. The senate also approved all appointments made by Adams. Some of the commissions, however, were not delivered before the end of his presidency. When Thomas Jefferson took office, a few commissions were found undelivered. He ordered his secretary of state James …show more content…
William Marbury (plaintiff) was one of the appointed judges that did not receive his commission. Marbury went directly to the Supreme Court and sued under the Judiciary act of 1789 and asked for a writ of mandamus to be issued to Madison (defendant) by the Supreme Court so that his commission would be delivered. The Marbury v. Madison (1803) case was ended with a unanimous 4-0 decision (two of the other judges having been unavailable) that although Marbury had a right to his commission, the Supreme Court did not have the power to force Madison to deliver said commission. The section that Marbury was suing with from the Judiciary act of 1789 was declared unconstitutional because of this case, which also helped establish judicial review.
The issues in the court were whether or not Marbury had the right to his commission and if there was a remedy within the law and if the Supreme Court had the authority to issue the writ of

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