INTRODUCTION William Marbury thought he had the job locked up THE U S SUPREME COURT President John Adams during his last days in office in 1801 had filed the papers to make Marbury a justice of the peace But the new pres ident Thomas Jefferson didn’t want Adams’s appointees around He purposely delayed the papers Before the Supreme Court Marbury ar gued that he’d been hired for the job The court agreed but said there was a little more to it The court found that the law setting up the se lection process was unconstitutional It tried to give the court powers beyond those granted by the United States Constitution Therefore the court didn’t have the power to help Marbury However it claimed a more profound power for itself the ability to judge whether laws passed by the people are legal to say what the law is That landmark opinion made the Supreme Court an equal among the three branches of the U S government 4
The Supreme Court met at the U S Capitol from 1801 to 1935
U S SEPARATION OF POWERS The system of checks and balances ensures that no one person or group holds too much power JUDICIAL BRANCH LEGISTLATIVE BRANCH EXECUTIVE BRANCH JUDICIAL BRANCH Court system EXECUTIVE BRANCH President LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Congress T H E S U P R E M E C O U R T C A N D E C L A R E P R E S I D E N T I A L A C T S U N C O N S T I T U T I O N A L T H E S U P R E M E C O U R T C A N D E C L A R E C O N G R E S S I O N A L L E G I S L A T I O N U N C O N S T I T U T I O N A L C O N G R E S S H O L D S T H E P O W E R O F I M P E A C H M E N T A N D A P P R O V E S P R E S I D E N T I A L N O M I N A T I O N S THE PRESIDENT CAN VETO CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION CONGRESS MAY IMPEACH FEDERAL OFFICERS AND OVERRIDE PRESIDENTIAL VETOES T H E P R E SI D E N T N O MI N A T E S F E D E R A L J U D G E S A N D S U P R E M E C O U R TJ U S TI C E S BY THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER NO_ 1 A SLOW START THE U S SUPREME COURT A s the Revolutionary War ended the states were gov erned by the Articles of Confederation The national government under the Articles was weak with no ability to collect taxes The Articles also didn’t estab lish a central court system Disputes between states were diffi cult to resolve Representatives drafted the Constitution in 1787 to address some of those problems The first three articles established the branches of government the executive led by the president the legislative meaning Congress and the judicial which is the court system Each branch has powers to limit the actions of the others This system of checks and balances is one of the key methods by which the nation’s founders tried to prevent any sin gle arm of government from having too much control 7
