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Political Sciene - SCOTUS Cases. The issue in the case Marbury v. Madison
(1803) was whether or not the Supreme Court of the United ...
Submitted by Luka Brazi on December 8, 2005
Category: American History
Words: 1001 | Pages: 5
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The issue in the case Marbury v. Madison (1803) was whether or not the Supreme Court of the United States had the power, under Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution, to interpret the constitutionality of a law or statue passed by Congress. This matter was brought forth to SCOTUS as a result of Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to the Secretary of State, James Madison, not to appoint William Marbury as federal justice of peace. Marbury sued Madison to get the appointment he thought he deserved by asking the court to issue a writ of mandamus, which would require Madison to deliver the appointment.
The court then decided that Marbury’s request for the writ of mandamus was based on a law passed by Congress (Judiciary Act) that the court held to be unconstitutional. The federal law contradicted the Constitution, and since the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, it must reign supreme. Through the decision of the court, Chief Justice John Marshall established the power of judicial review: the court’s power to not only interpret the constitutionality of a law or statue but also carry out the process and enforce the decision. Since the case in 1803, our Nation has recognized the two chief principles of this case: that when there is a conflict between the Constitution and a federal or state law, the Constitution is supreme, and that it is the job of the court to interpret the laws of the United States.
In another landmark case, Maryland v. McCulloch (1819), Chief Justice John Marshall had to decide whether the state of Maryland had the right to tax a federal agency which was properly set up by the United States Congress. The State of Maryland brought action forth against William McCulloch, as cashier in the Maryland branch of the Bank of the United States, for not paying a tax the state had imposed on the United States Bank. The SCOTUS ruled that federal government’s bank was immune to taxation and that ‘the power to tax involves the power to...
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