Marbury v. Madison

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.