McCulloch v Maryland was one of John Marshall’s most significant and important cases. He was the Chief of Justice for the case. During this case, he had made one of his most important decisions regarding the expansion of Federal power. He noted that Congress possessed powers that are not explicitly outlined in the U.S. Constitution. In order to cover all methods for furthering objectives covered by the enumerated powers, he had redefined “necessary” to mean “appropriate and legitimate” instead. John Marshall had aligned the Supreme Court with nationalists. These nationalists included Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and John Calhoun. He had also held that even though the states retained the power of taxation, the Constitution and the laws made …show more content…
history. Right before he became Chief Justice of the Court, he was the Secretary of State for John Adams. When John Marshall had placed his seal on the decommissions, he had trusted his brother to deliver them to the judges and justices of the peace. Although most of them had been delivered, there were four that had not been. One of those not delivered was for William Marbury. In Marbury v. Madison, John Marshall established the principle of judicial review. It was an important addition to the system created in order to prevent any one branch of the Federal Government from becoming too powerful. For the first time, the Supreme Court declared a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, unconstitutional. There was nothing stated that the Constitution gave the Court this specific power. John Marshall believed that the Supreme Court should have an equal role to those of the other two branches of government. The decision in this case established the right of the courts to determine the constitutionality of the other two branches of government’s