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Happy Birthday, Judicial Review

Yesterday marked the 205th birthday of arguably the most important Supreme Court case in history, Marbury v. Madison. The facts of the case are a bit confusing: incoming Secretary of State James Madison refused to deliver a commission issued by outgoing President John Adams, appointing William Marbury as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia. Marbury filed for a writ of mandamus directly from the Supreme Court, which was authorized under the Judiciary Act of 1789. However, Chief Justice Marshall (who was the outgoing Secretary of State that should have delivered the commissions), ruled that Congress cannot change the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court because it would conflict with the conditions for original jurisdiction set forth in Article III of the Constitution. Thus, Marshall ruled that section of the Judiciary Act unconstitutional.

Cliff Notes version: judicial review is born.

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on February 25, 2008 (boomark / email).