History

The Midnight Judges were a group of federal judges appointed in the last few days of the presidency of John Adams in 1801. Adams, who was a member of the Federalist Party, appointed the judges in an attempt to maintain the party’s influence after the election of the Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson.

The cause of Marbury vs. Madison was William Marbury's suit against Secretary of State James Madison, in which Marbury was seeking an appointment to the prominent position of Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia. The suit followed an act issued by the last Congress of the Adams administration, the Judiciary Act of 1801, which provided for a larger Supreme Court for certain matters of national law.

The effect of Marbury vs. Madison was to establish the precedent of judicial review in the United States; the Supreme Court's ruling established that it was the right of the judicial branch of government to review the actions of the other branches and declare those actions unconstitutional, when applicable. This ruling established the power of the Supreme Court, and allowed the Court to protect individual rights and liberties established in the Constitution.