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Background
Summary and Questions •
Vocabulary
sued
(to sue)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
appointed (to appoint)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
writ
Define:
Use in a sentence:
The
President of the United States has the power to appoint judges
to the federal courts. Usually, the President appoints individuals
who are members of his political party or who share his ideas
about politics.
In
1800, John Adams was President. There was an election that
year. Thomas Jefferson, who belonged to another political
party, got elected. There were many positions in the federal
government that were empty. Before he left office, President
Adams tried to fill these positions with people who shared
his ideas.
President
Adams appointed 58 new people. He asked his Secretary of
State, John Marshall, to deliver the paperwork to these
people so they could start their new jobs. Marshall delivered
most of the papers. He was in a hurry, so he left some of
the papers for the new Secretary of State, James Madison,
to deliver. When he came into office, President Thomas Jefferson
told Madison not to deliver the papers to some of the people
Adams had appointed.
One
of the individuals who didn't receive his papers was William
Marbury. He sued James Madison and tried to get the Supreme
Court of the United States to issue a writ of mandamus.
A writ is a court order that forces an official to do something.
Marbury argued that a law passed by Congress (the Judiciary
Act of 1789) gave the Supreme Court of the United States
the power to issue this writ. If the Court issued the writ,
Madison would have to deliver the papers. Then Marbury would
become a justice of the peace.
The
Supreme Court of the United States had to decide the case.
The new Chief Justice of the United States was John Marshall.
He was the same person who had been unable to deliver the
paperwork in the first place!
Questions
to Consider:
- Why
would the President appoint people who are members of
his same political party?
- Why
do you think Thomas Jefferson did not want the people
Adams appointed to get their jobs?
- Who
is Chief Justice John Marshall likely to agree with? Why?
- When
the Supreme Court of the United States makes a decision,
how do they get people to obey it? In other words, who
enforces it? If the Court issued a writ to force Madison,
a member of the executive branch, to deliver the commission
to Marbury, who would enforce it?
- How
would Chief Justice Marshall and the other members of
the Court look to the public if they made a decision and
people refused to obey it?
- According
to Article 3, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution,
does the Supreme Court of the United States have original
jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus?
- If
Congress passes a law that conflicts with the Constitution,
which one are we required to follow: the new law or the
U.S. Constitution?
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