What role did John Adams play in the Marbury v. Madison case?

Answer 1

Marbury v. Madison, 5 US 137 (1803)

John Adams, a Federalist, won the Presidential election in 1796. Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republic, won the Vice-Presidency. The Federalists controlled both the executive and legislative branches at that time. By the next election, in 1800, Federalist policies had angered enough people that Adams lost the election badly.

Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both Democratic-Republicans, received an equal number of electoral votes, so the final decision as to who would assume which role fell to the House of Representatives. Jefferson, championed by a popular Alexander Hamilton, won the Presidency. With both Presidential and Vice-Presidential offices filled by Democratic-Republicans, as well as the majority of seats in both the House and Senate, the new administration portended a radical shift in the government's ideology.

Before the new administration could take office, however, the Sixth Congress passed two pieces of legislation in early 1801 that expanded the federal court system. The first, The Judiciary Act of 1801, which passed February 13, 1801, reduced the size of the Supreme Court from 6 members to 5, by attrition, to impede Jefferson's ability to change the composition of the Court (which was entirely Federalist at that time). It also relieved the Justices of their "circuit riding" responsibilities, reorganizing the lower courts into six circuits, and creating positions for 16 new judges.

The second piece of legislation, the Organic Act of 1801 (aka "An Act Concerning the District of Columbia"), which passed on February 27, 1801, is more directly relevant to the Marbury v. Madison case. The Organic act removed the United States' new Capitol from the jurisdiction of Virginia and Maryland, and placed it under the direct control of Congress. This created a number of lower-level judicial positions (the most commonly referenced number is 42), including "...such number of discreet persons to be justices of the peace, as the President of the United States shall from time to time think expedient."

The out-going President, John Adams, in a desperate attempt to bolster Federalist influence, quickly appointed 42 members of his own party to the justice of the peace positions, and 16 Federalist judges to head the Circuit courts created by the new Judiciary Act of 1801 (passed on February 13, 1801). These later became known as the "Midnight Judges," after the fact that they were nominated March 2, and confirmed by the Senate on March 3, 1801, Adams' final day in office.

One of Adams' appointees was William Marbury, who sued the new Secretary of State (Madison) for his rightful appointment.

For more information about Marbury v. Madison, see Related Links, below.

Answer 2

When Thomas Jefferson was elected President in 1800, there were no members of his party in the federal judiciary (not surprising because the Democratic-Republican party had formed only recently from a group formerly known as the Anti-federalists). In fact, virtually the entire judiciary, including every member of the Supreme Court, was Federalist, a legacy of both John Adams and George Washington. Jefferson decided to take corrective measures.

First, he reduced the number of justice of the peace appointments Adams had arranged under the Organic Act of 1801 from 42 to 30, ostensibly as a matter of economy. Of the remaining 30 appointments, Jefferson allowed 25 Federalist appointees to keep their positions, and nominated members of his own party to fill the remaining five slots.

William Marbury, whom Adams had appointed justice of the peace for the District of Columbia, was one of the 12 whose commissions were eliminated.

Jefferson (as did many members of the Democratic-Republican party) believed Adams had engaged in "Court packing," by appointing Federalists to all of the newly created judicial positions. Jefferson was determined to thwart Adams' strategy.

Otherwise, it appears Jefferson maintained distance from the case.