Marbury v. Madison

Marbury v. Madison
Name:
Institution:
Citation
Marbury v. Madison 1 Cranch (5U.S.) 137, 2 L.Ed.60 (1803)
Facts of the case
William Marbury the plaintiff, had been appointed a justice of peace by the then outgoing president of the United States John Adams. Adams had between February 17th in 1801 and March 4th 1801 used the 7thcongress to modify the Judiciary Act of 1789, where they passed the Judiciary Act of 1801; in an attempt toreduce the capability of the incoming governments.Forty two federalist justices of the peace and sixteen federalist circuit courts Marbury wasone of the justices that had been appointed.After the senate had approved the appointment in the numbers, the then secretary of the state, John Marshal delivered the commissions(Lawnix.com, 2015). By the time Thomas Jefferson had taken over the office of the presidency, Marshall had not delivered all the commissions. The president Thomas Jefferson nullified the appointments for all those commissions that had not been delivered, which included the plaintiff.For this reason the plaintiff applied for a writ of mandamus, directly to the supreme court of the United States of America, the defendant, seeking to compel the secretary of state to delivering the remaining commissions. Under Jefferson, the Judiciary Act of 1801 had been overturned by implementing the Judiciary Act of 1802, which hadreverted the powers of the 1801 act back to the Judiciary Act of 1789. This act of 1789, then gave the powers to the Supreme Court the jurisdiction of issuing writs of mandamus to persons that were holding office or appointed courts under the United States authority.
Issue
Does the plaintiff have any right to the commissions?
Ifby any chance the plaintiff has rights, which have thereof been infringed upon, does the law offer any remedies to his situation?
If the laws of the country do offer some remedy, is the supreme court of united states in place of offering the plaintiffs requests?
Does the Supreme Court have the mandate to review the acts of congress and deem them unconstitutional or otherwise?
Can the Congress expand the powers of the Supreme Court beyond what is provided for in article III?
Does the Supreme Court hold the original jurisdiction over the issuance of writs of mandamus?
Holding
The plaintiff, Marbury has the right the commissions’delivery. This holding is due to the fact that the executive powers had been exercised and the commissions’ delivery is validated immediately the president signs.
The law does offer a remedy to the plaintiff, given that every citizen has a right under the civil liberty to claim protection from the law.
The supreme court of the United States also has the power to review the act of congress in light of their constitutionality, given that the judicial department has th...