Garcia 1

Ana Garcia
Lolene Blake
4 July 2014
Establishment of Judicial Review
Before the court case dealing with William Marbury versus James Madison, the legal
principle of judicial review had not been established. In this informative article on the
History Channel, in which a specific author is not mentioned, one can find the quite reliable
facts about the judicial review and how it was established. This court case was taken to the
Supreme Court which then had to review the conflict they were having and decide who to
rule in favor for. In the article Marbury v. Madison establishes judicial review is the
summary of the events that occurred in debating whether to have allowed William Marbury
to take office or to rule in favor of the new president Thomas Jefferson and, his Secretary of
State, James Madison. The court decided that the court had no jurisdiction in the case and
could not force Jefferson and Madison to seat Marbury (History Channel) therefore
establishing judicial review.
The definition of judicial review is the ability of the Supreme Court to limit
Congressional power by declaring legislation unconstitutional (History Channel). The
Supreme Court was led by Chief of Justice John Marshall. In a way, the new president was
not correct because he did not appoint William Marbury, he prevented him for taking office
as the justice of the peace and that was in no way correct because Marbury deserved to get
the job that he was promised. Although the court decided that they could not force James
Madison but much less Thomas Jefferson into appointing William Marbury into office,
Garcia 2

therefore, the court had no jurisdiction in that case. There was an act passed, in 1789, that
stated or gave jurisdiction to the Supreme Court. The Marshall court ruled otherwise. The
Marshall court ruled that the Act of 1789 were unconstitutional because it extended too much
of the judiciary power into the power of the executive branch. In other words, it crossed a
limit and was starting to become too powerful and thats why the checks and balances check
the other branches to make sure that each one is under control and not taking too much
power over the others even if its on this subject about appointing people into power.
There were some judges called midnight judges because they were appointed after
the previous president John Adams, and after Jefferson was elected, but only hours before he
was actually appointed. These so called midnight judges were appointed by John Adams
and, not by Thomas Jefferson, the current president at the time they would actually take
office. Both Madison and Jefferson objected to their appointment also, but to stir up the fire a
bit more the new Democratic-Republican administration which was formed mainly of
federalist judges, they were taking seats in new courts formed by the Judiciary Act. The
Judiciary Act was passed by the federalist Congress on February 13, 1801 less than a month
before Jeffersons inauguration on March 4
th
of the same year. It all made it seem like it was
plotted by John Adams and the federalist so they would still have power over Congress once
Adams was out of office. It was all quite brilliant of their part, but the only part they did not
plan out was that Marbury and Madison would establish judicial review and therefore
Jefferson would not be forced to put William Marbury into office. Another thing they may
not have expected was the series of attacks received by Jefferson to Federalist-controlled
courts (History Channel).
Garcia 3

As part of the Revolution of the 1800s, the president, Thomas Jefferson, set out a
series of attacks on the courts that were controlled by Federalist-controlled courts. He was
not alone because he was backed up by his Democratic-Republican followers. The new
Democratic-Republican-controlled Congress helped impeach most of the midnight judges
as soon as they could. They did this by repealing the Judiciary Act in 1802. Once most of the
midnight judgers were impeached, they also got Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase
impeached but they acquitted him amidst inner-party squabbles (History Channel). After
Samuel Chase was impeached, they continued to impeach Marshalls impeccably argued
decision (History Channel). Once that was concluded, so were the attacks Jefferson and his
Democratic-Republican followers had been so busy with.
This article was written as a guide to help the common people understand. The events
that led to judicial review. It does not focus on the importance of judicial review, but it does
give facts on how the court cases led to judicial review. The main point of this article was to
show how judicial review was established in the courts as direct effect of the Marbury vs.
Madison court case. The specific author of this article is not mentioned. It may even be that
this information was gathered by many and later put together. I could not tell you how the
author views the situation and how it directly affects the background of the authors because
there is no mention of it or any hint of the type of background experiences the authors may or
may not have had.
The court case of William Marbury vs. James Madison helps, the new country, the
United States of America, establish judicial review. This was essentially what gave/defined
the power that was given to the Supreme Court which is to determine whether something is
Garcia 4

constitutional or not. In my opinion, it is very hard to put the author in perspective because
there is no mention of the authors point of view. This only shows the fact, but not the
opinions of the people who wrote them. This article did a good job explaining what judicial
review is and how it was established in the courts, but not the importance this establishment.
I also could not find the date of publication therefore I could not pinpoint the exact audience
and purpose this article was written for.

Garcia 5

Work Cited
Marbury v. Madison establishes judicial review. 2014. The History Channel website. Jul 4
2014, 1:30 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marbury-v-madison-
establishes-judicial-review.