The Supreme Court Renders an Important Decision

In 1804 a judicial decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case known as Marbury v. Madison. The case was started because President Jefferson did not like one of the appointments made by his predecessor in the Presidency, John Adams. The appointment, made in the last few hours of Adams' administration in 1801, elevated a man named William Marbury to the position of justice of the peace. Jefferson asked his Secretary of State, James Madison, to dismiss Marbury, and Marbury sued the government in the person of Madison so that he might be reinstated in his job. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which dismissed Marbury's suit, stating that the court lacked jurisdiction in the case. More importantly, the Supreme Court declared that a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. This was the first time that the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress invalid, which opened a new role for the court, eventually gaining for it an important place as the third, co-equal branch of government, along with the Congress and the Executive.