Documents

Marbury v. Madison

Citation Formats

General Reference

Political Atlas. "Marbury v. Madison." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://political.interactiveatlas.org/documents/marbury-v-madison.

APA Style

Political Atlas. (n.d.). Marbury v. Madison. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://political.interactiveatlas.org/documents/marbury-v-madison

BibTeX

@misc{politicalatlas-marbury-v-madison,
  author = {Political Atlas},
  title = {Marbury v. Madison},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://political.interactiveatlas.org/documents/marbury-v-madison},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Marbury v. Madison was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on February 24, 1803, arising after outgoing President John Adams commissioned William Marbury as a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia but incoming Secretary of State James Madison withheld the commission. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus ordering delivery of the commission. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for the Court, held that Marbury had a right to the commission but that the section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 purporting to give the Supreme Court authority to issue such a writ was unconstitutional and therefore void. The ruling established the principle of judicial review, the power of federal courts to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional, and no other federal statute was struck down by the Supreme Court on similar grounds until 1857.

Facts

Year

1803 1

Key Provision

Decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion held that the Constitution is superior to ordinary legislation and that it is the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, striking down a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional and thereby establishing the federal courts' power of judicial review over acts of Congress. 2

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

United States

This source names United States directly: "Madison was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on February 24, 1803, arising after outgoing President John Adams commissioned William Marbury as a justice of the peace for the..."

Source Marbury v. Madison (National Archives)