What ‘Let the Record Show’ Reveals About a 200-Year-Old Petty Paperwork Problem That Gave Courts Its Power Today

On March 3, 1801, in the final hours of his presidency, President John Adams appointed Marbury as Justice of Peace in the District of Columbia. It was a way for the Federalist Party, a party that believed in a strong central government, to make a lasting impact as it lost government control to Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic Republican. His party believed in giving more power to the states.

The next day, Jefferson was sworn in as the president. He then appointed fellow founding father James Madison as secretary of state. Madison refused to honor Marbury’s appointment on the grounds that his appointment paperwork wasn’t delivered in time to beat the clock. And of course, Marbury protested.

Marbury took the case straight to the Supreme Court, which looked a bit different than it does today. At the time, the Supreme Court justices met in random rooms in the Capitol building. Not only did they handle mundane trials, its cases were usually settled within a few days, unlike today where cases can spend years making their way up to the Supreme Court. The framers of the Constitution also kept the Supreme Court’s role short and vague. It didn’t have as much power to, for example, determine if something was constitutional or not.

Chief Justice John Marshall presided over the Supreme Court at the time. Marbury demanded that the court provide an order that would force Madison to confirm the appointment. The ruling established that the Judiciary Act of 1789, a law that would have granted the court the ability to force the hand over, was unconstitutional. So, Marbury didn’t get the appointment in the end.