John Marshal Essay Research Paper The Influence

John Marshal Essay, Research Paper

The Influence of Marshall s Court

The Supreme Court, under John Marshall, had a great influence on the development of the powers of our present day government. John Marshall s court was responsible for greatly increasing the powers of the Supreme Court and the Federal Government.

The Supreme Court of the early 1800 s was nothing like it is today. The early Supreme Court didn t seem like it fit in well with the rest of the Government. But as we know that was destined to change. The man who changed the powers of the Court and of the Federal Government was John Marshall.

John Marshall s life began in Virginia, in 1755. His family lived way out in the country. He was eventually sent to Archibald Campbell s academy. On returning home he read Commentaries on the Laws of England by Blackstone. This book is what probably caused him to become a lawyer. Then his life took a big turn when he was elected a Justice.1 During his time as a Chief Justice he presided over 1,215 cases. His landmark decisions have had a lasting affect on the Court and Government of today.2

During the time when John Marshall was Chief Justice the cases brought before the Supreme Court established how much power the Supreme Court was to have. Just two years after his appointment as Chief Justice, John Marshall was to decide the first of many important cases. This first case was Marbury v. Madison.3

The case of Marbury v. Madison originated when the outgoing Federalist President, John Adams, appointed over 50 men to judicial positions at the very last minute. Then the Senate voted on, and confirmed these appointees, and President Adams signed their confirmations of office. Then John Marshall, who was the outgoing Secretary of State, stamped them with the seal of the United States. But Marshall, because of the rush, overlooked sending the commissions of the justices of peace. Then the new President, Thomas Jefferson, told his Secretary of State, James Madison, not to send out the commissions. One of the men who did not get his commission for justice of the peace was William Marbury.4

William Marbury then sought a writ of Mandamus from the Supreme Court, to get Madison to deliver the commissions he was withholding. Marbury had taken the action directly to the Supreme Court through section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which gave the court the right to hear mandamus cases against federal officials without the case being tried in a lower court.5

Ten days after the case was heard, the Court through Marshall announced its decision. The main part of Marshall s decision was made up of answering three basic questions. The first question asked if Marbury had a right to get his commission as a justice of the peace. The second question was could Marbury get a writ of mandamus to make Madison deliver his commission. And the last question asked was could the Court issue this order.6

The answer to the first question was yes, because the president had signed the commission, and the seal of the United States had been put on it. And Marbury could get a writ of mandamus to make Madison deliver the commission, but this is not what Marshall wanted to do. If he did order Madison to deliver the commission, the Court would have no power to enforce this, but if he decided to dismiss Marbury s action this would be abdicating the essentials of The Judicial Power conferred on the court by the Constitution. 7 Marshall chooses neither while answering the third question. He said that section 13 of the Judiciary Act was unconstitutional because in the Constitution the Supreme Court only had original jurisdiction on cases involving ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls and those in which a state shall be a party. 8 This meant that the Supreme Court could not issue the writ, Marbury would have to get his commission from a trial court, because the Supreme Court should not have been able to hear the case in the first place.9

Marshall limited the Supreme Courts jurisdiction to increase the Courts power.

When Marshall said that an act of Congress was unconstitutional the Supreme Court gained the power of judicial review. Judicial review allows the Justices to decide if the actions of the other branches of the Government are Constitutional. This greatly increased the power of the Supreme Court, because they can prevent Congress from abusing the power to make laws.10

Marshall s next great case was that of McCulloch v. Maryland. This case dealt with the highly disputed Necessary-and-Proper clause. There were two interpretations of this clause at the time. The Jefferson interpretation was the stricter view, while the Hamilton interpretation was broader. This case originally started when a Bank of the United States was set up in Maryland. This federal bank was not very popular because it competed with the state banks for customers and it set limits on state and private loans.11 Maryland, pushed by the state banks, imposed heavy taxes on the Federal Bank. The aim of these taxes was to shut down the Federal Bank. One of the cashiers refused to pay that tax. That cashier was McCulloch. Then the State Treasure brought suit against the cashier in the local court and won. It was then appealed to the Supreme Court.12

Marshall had to decide whether or not the State putting a tax on the bank was constitutiona