Who failed to deliver Marbury's commission on time and who wrote the US Supreme Court decision against Marbury?

Answer 1

John Marshall, who was Secretary of State under the second US President, John Adams, was unable to deliver all 42 new justice of the peace commissions established under the recent Organic Act of 1801 before Adams left office, because Adams signed and sealed the appointments on the last day of his Presidency (the men later became known as the "Midnight Judges" for his last-minute action).

Marshall, who had recently been appointed Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, assumed his replacement, James Madison, would complete the task. Madison, however, was a member of the Democratic-Republican party, as was the incoming President, Thomas Jefferson. Adams was a member of the Federalist party, and all the appointments had been made to members of his own party. When Jefferson discovered there were undelivered commissions, he reduced the number of commissions by 12, nominated Democratic-Republicans to five of the positions, and allowed Madison to arrange delivery of the rest.

William Marbury was one of the twelve whose commission was eliminated, so he filed a motion in the US Supreme Court requesting a writ of mandamus be issued against James Madison, forcing him to deliver the commission Marbury needed to take office.

John Marshall wrote the opinion in the Marbury v. Madison(1803) case that attempted to resolve both the disposition of the judicial appointments, and the right of the court to issue a writ of mandamus (an order requiring Madison to take an official action) to Madison, compelling him to deliver the paperwork.

The decision was actually in favor of Marbury, in that the Court determined he was entitled to his position; however, they also ruled that part of the Judicial Act of 1789, which gave the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over such matters, was unconstitutional because Congress had improperly assigned the Supreme Court a role not prescribed by the Constitution.

Marshall said the Supreme Court only had appellate authority over the Marbury issue, and that the case would have to be tried in the lower courts and exhaust its lower-court appeals before the Supreme Court could review the case.

Marbury v. Madison is one of the most important landmark cases in Supreme Court history, because the Court interpreted the Constitution to give them the power of judicial review over legislation created by Congress and the Executive branch, and to overturn legislation they considered to be unconstitutional.

For more in-depth information about this case, see Related Links, below.