1. Please sit in your assigned seats and quietly follow the directions below:
Answer the following question in your bell ringer notebook:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Preamble to the United States Constitution
What idea about government did the Founding Fathers include in the Preamble to the Constitution?
A) popular sovereignty
B) checks and balances
C) individual liberties
D) separation of powers

2. USHC Standard 1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the conflicts between regional and national interest in the development of democracy in the United States.
USHC 1.7: Summarize the expansion of the power of the national government as a result of Supreme Court decisions under Chief Justice John Marshall, such as the establishment of judicial review in Marbury vs. Madison and the impact of political party affiliation on the Court.

3. When was the first court system established?
• The First Congress established the court system through the Judiciary Act of 1789 because the Constitution does not go into detail about how the judiciary system should be set up.
• The first chief justices presided over a very weak court.

4. Then
Now

5. Who appoints the judges on the Supreme Court?
• The President
• Although the Senate must confirm presidential appointments to the judiciary, presidents most often appoint justices who hold political ideas similar to the president’s own.
How long do chief justices serve?
• For “good behavior”
• In other words, for life or retirement

6. FEDERALIST John Marshall Marshall Court Marbury vs. Madison
JUDICIAL REVIEW
John Marshall

7. Who was John Marshall?
• The longest serving Chief Justice and the fourth longest serving justice in Supreme Court history
• He dominated the Court for over 3 decades
• Played a significant role in the development of the American legal system
Who appointed him to the Supreme Court?
• Federalist president, John Adams

8. Why?
• John Marshall was also a Federalist
• Decisions of the Marshall Court supported a strong federal government that was supreme over the states and reflected the interest of Federalists
• Marshall served for 30 years during which time the rulings of the court reflected Marshall’s support for a strong national government

9. Why is he important?
• The principals and ideas of the Constitution and the power of the national government were strengthened by the decisions of the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall
• The Marshall Court is an example that presidential power is felt long after the appointing administration is gone
• The ruling of Marbury vs. Madison (1803), under John Marshall’s court, began the enduring precedent of judicial review as a vital part of the checks and balances system

10. Marbury vs. Madison (1803):
• Federalist William Marbury was appointed and confirmed as one of the “midnight” judges
• His commission to a lower court had not been delivered before the Democratic Republicans took office and the Secretary of State James Madison refused to deliver the commission
• Marbury appealed to the Supreme Court for a court order (writ of mandamus) that would require Madison to deliver the commission

11. Why did Marbury appeal to the Supreme Court?
• The Supreme Court was authorized by Congress to issue court orders, or writs
What did the Supreme Court do?
• Marshall knew that if the court ordered the commission to be delivered to Marbury that the order would be ignored by Madison and the judicial branch would continue to be seen as powerless
• Reading the Constitution closely, Marshall realized that the document does NOT give Congress the power to give the Supreme Court the power to writs, because they could only hear a case on appeal

12. The Marshall Court’s Ruling:
Although Marbury deserved his commission, the court could not order that it be delivered because Congress could not give a power to the Supreme Court which the Constitution did not authorize.
Why is this ruling so significant?
• This was a landmark decision because it was the first time that the court claimed for itself the right of judicial review
• Judicial Review: the right to determine the constitutionality of an act of Congress

13. Main Ideas:
1. By denying itself the right to issue the court order, or writ, the Marshall Court claimed for itself a far greater role—to determine what is constitutional and what is not.
2. The Court under John Marshall asserted its role as a vital third branch of government that supported the principles of the Federalist Party.

14. How did this affect the Democratic-Republicans?
• Since the decision did not have to be enforced by the executive branch, the court could not be undermined by its Democratic-Republican rivals who now held the presidency
• Jefferson and Madison had claimed the right to decide constitutionality of federal laws for the states in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions but the decision in Marbury vs. Madison countered that claim