Marbury v. Madison

In the last days of his administration, President John Adams appointed a number of "midnight judges."  One of these was John Marshall, the Secretary of State, who was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  Another was William Marbury, appointed to the relatively minor office of justice of the peace in the District of Columbia, the new capital city.  In the rush to complete business before the expiration of Adams' term and the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Jefferson, Marbury's commission (his official appointment paper) was not delivered, although it had been signed by President Adams, but was left in the office of the Secretary of State, who had applied the seal to prove its validity.  Marbury sued the new Secretary of State, James Madison, for a copy of his commission, which Madison, on Jefferson's instructions, refused to supply.  The suit for a writ of mandamus, a court order directing delivery of the commission, was brought directly in the Supreme Court and appeared to set up a confrontation between the President (Jefferson) and the Court.  Marshall disposes of the suit, however, without ordering delivery of the commission, since he finds the statute purporting to give his court jursidiction in the case is unconstitutional, and an unconstitutional statute must be declared void.