William Marbury was appointed to be the Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia by outgoing President John Adams in 1801. The commission was never delivered, so Marbury sued the new Secretary of State, James Madison to compel him to deliver the commission. The case formed the basis for judicial review in the United States.
Marbury v. Madison, 5 US 137 (1803)
For more information, see Related Questions, below.
In Marbury v Madison, 5 US 137 (1803), William Marbury tried to get James Madison to deliver his commission. James Madison, who later became a US President, was Secretary of State under President Thomas Jefferson at the time.
William Marbury was appointed as a justice of the peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams during his final days in office. However, when Thomas Jefferson took office, his Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver Marbury's commission. Marbury then petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to compel Madison to deliver his appointment, leading to the landmark case Marbury v. Madison.
William Marbury was suing James Madison because Madison, as Secretary of State, failed to deliver Marbury's commission as a justice of the peace, which had been signed by President John Adams. Marbury sought a writ of mandamus from the Supreme Court to compel Madison to deliver the commission. This case, Marbury v. Madison, ultimately led to a landmark ruling that established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to invalidate laws that contradicted the Constitution.
William Marbury, William Harper, Robert R. Hooey and Dennis Ramsay were the plaintiffs; US Secretary of State James Madison was the nominal respondent.William Marbury and three other men petitioned the US Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus (a judicial order commanding an official take, or refrain from taking, an action within his scope of responsibility) against US Secretary of State James Madison because Madison refused to deliver the justice of the peace commission former President John Adams granted Marbury. Marbury was unable to assume office without the sealed commission.Marbury v. Madison, 5 US 137 (1803)Chief Justice John Marshall presided over the trial. Marshall, coincidentally, had been Secretary of State under President Adams, and was responsible for delivering Marbury's commission. Unfortunately, the administration changed before he had an opportunity to complete the assignment, and he assumed James Madison would complete the task for him.When the new President, Thomas Jefferson, discovered how John Adams had attempted to install 58 new judges immediately before leaving office, he decided to thwart as many of the appointments as possible. Marbury was one of a handful of men whose commissions were side-lined in this way.For more information, see Related Questions, below.
William Marbury and James Madison. They were fighting over whether or not Marbury and other federalists, appointed by John Adams, would receive their commissions.
The secretary of state who refused to deliver a judge's appointment was James Madison. This incident occurred in the early 1800s during the case of Marbury v. Madison, where William Marbury's appointment as a justice of the peace was not finalized. The refusal to deliver the commission became a pivotal moment in establishing the principle of judicial review in the United States.
William Marbury filed a lawsuit against James Madison, the Secretary of State, in response to Madison's refusal to deliver his commission as a justice of the peace, which had been signed by President John Adams. Marbury sought a writ of mandamus from the Supreme Court to compel Madison to deliver the commission. This case ultimately led to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803), which established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Court to declare laws unconstitutional.
James Madison held the post of Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of State. Holding the position between March 2 1801 and March 3 1809 James Madison was the 5th United States Secretary of State.
Thomas Jefferson appointed his good friend James Madison as secretary of state
In the landmark case Marbury v. Madison (1803), William Marbury is the individual seeking a writ of mandamus to compel Secretary of State James Madison to deliver his commission as a justice of the peace. Marbury had been appointed by outgoing President John Adams, but his commission was not finalized before Adams left office. The case ultimately established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.
President Thomas Jefferson refused to appoint William Marbury to the judgeship. Marbury was one of the "midnight judges" appointed by outgoing President John Adams, but Jefferson, believing the appointments were politically motivated, instructed his Secretary of State, James Madison, not to deliver the commissions. This refusal led to the landmark Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review.
James Madison was the President for whom Monroe served as Secretary of State. (He also served as Madison's Secretary of War for a year or so.)