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I became involved in this case in my position as Secretary of State
in the administration of President Thomas Jefferson.
This was the situation: In 1800,
Thomas Jefferson, a member of the Democratic Republican Party,
was elected president. The outgoing president
was John Adams, a federalist. The Federalists
had not only lost the presidency in the election,
they lost their majority in Congress as well,
so they decided to find a way to keep control of the courts.
Between the time Jefferson
and the new congress were elected and the time they took office,
the Federalist Congress passed the Judiciary Act
of 1801. This act
increased the number of judges so that President
Adams could appoint as many Federalists as he could.
Now you must keep in mind that travel and communication for us was very slow
and difficult,
so not all the notifications appointments were made before President
Adams left office.
One of the appointments that was made
but not delivered until President Jefferson was sworn in
was one William Marbury, who had been appointed
a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia - a very
minor position. As I was Secretary of State,
Marbury expected me to install him in his post.
I refused. Marbury sued.
The case went to the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice at the time was John Marshall.
Chief Justice Marshall made a most astonishing pronouncement about the case:
He said that the law under which Marbury's appointment have been made
was unconstitutional. Congress, he said,
had gone beyond the powers it was given by the Constitution
in making such an appointment. In writing his opinion,
the Chief Justice said "It is emphatically the province
and duty of the Judicial Department to say
what the law is." In one grand moment,
Chief Justice Marshall made the Supreme Court
the equal of the president and Congress