Just before President John Adams left office in 1801, he appointed several judges to federal positions. These were called "midnight judges" because many were appointed on the final day of Adams’s term. One of these "midnight judges" was William Marbury, who had been named justice of the peace for Washington, DC.

Thomas Jefferson succeeded Adams and signed a bill repealing the "midnight judge" law. When Marbury was informed by the State Department that his commission had vanished, he sued new Secretary of State James Madison. Marbury took his case directly to the Supreme Court in accordance with the Judiciary Act of 1789. After two years of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court rendered a monumental decision.

Nullifying Federal Law

The majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Marshall, one of Adams’s "midnight judges" and a Federalist who supported a strong federal government. Marshall ruled that Marbury was entitled to his commission, but he had no right to bring the case before the Supreme Court because the Judiciary Act was unconstitutional and therefore void. This was the first time the Court declared that a law passed by Congress and signed by the president was illegal.

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