Power Of Judicial Review

Term Paper Title	Power Of Judicial Review
# of Words	932
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.73

Power of Judicial Review

     Marbury v. Madison, one of the first Supreme Court cases asserting the power of judicial review, is an effective argument for this power; however, it lacks direct textual basis for the decision. Marshall managed to get away with this deficiency because of the silence on many issues and the vague wording of the Constitution. During the early testing period when few precedents existed, there was much debate about fundamental issues concerning what was intended by the words of the Constitution and which part of government should have the final word in defining the meaning of these words. Marshall used the Marbury case to establish the Supreme Court's place as the final judge. Marshall identified three major questions that needed to be answered before the Court could rule on the Marbury v. Madison case.

        The first of these was, "Has the applicant a right to the commission he demands?" The Constitution allows that "the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, . . . ". The Judiciary Act of 1793 had given the President the right to appoint federal judges and justices of the peace; there is no dispute that such an appointment was within the scope of the president's powers. Debate arises because the Constitution is silent on the exact time at which the appointment is considered complete. The Supreme Court ruled that "when a commission has been signed by the president, the appointment is made; and that the commission is complete, when the seal of the United States has been affixed to it by the [secretary of state]."  This ruling does not have direct constitutional support, but it is not an unreasonable decision.

        The second question, that Marshall addressed was, "If [Marbury] has a right, and that right has been violated, do the laws of this country afford him a remedy?" The answer is yes although there are no specific words in the Constitution to support such an answer. Based on the type of government intended by the Constitution, the government is expected to protect individual liberty. As Marshall says, "[The government] will certainly cease to deserve [to be termed a government of laws, and not of men] if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested right." However, with this assertion Marshall established the power of the Supreme Court to review actions of the executive branch - a power that does not stem directly from the Constitution.

        Finally Marshall gets to the question based on which he decides the case - the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over this case. For the first time in this case, Marshall uses direct constitutional basis to make his ruling. He argues that, "If it had been intended to leave it in the discretion of the legislature to apportion the judicial powe...

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