William Marbury was appointed judge of the District of Columbia by former President John Adams. Many men, including him, have not received the legal appointment to begin practicing as judges in their respective positions. James Madison, secretary of state under Thomas Jefferson, was the person who was supposed to deliver these commissions, but never did, under Thomas Jefferson's advice. Marbury sued Madison and the result was one of the most historic court cases in US history and the decision still affects Americans today. According to the article Marbury v. Madison, "[John] Marshall was the 'father of the Supreme Court,' almost single-handedly clarifying its powers." John Marshall was the Chief Justice and the one who made the final decision on the Marbury v. Madison case and America is still reaping the benefits of this historic case today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Article III of the United States Constitution explicitly states nothing about the term “judicial review.” Judicial review is a concept in which judges are given the authority to declare a legislative act unconstitutional. Although the concept of judicial review was created and used long before the Marbury v. Madison decision, the United States has not used it at all. The result of Marbury v. Madison caused the Supreme Court to assume many powers, which had previously not been used by the Supreme Court at all. The greatest of these powers was that the Supreme Court can now exercise judicial review and declare an act of Congress or the president unconstitutional, or outside the bounds of the Constitution. “As such, the Supreme Court became, both in fact and in theory, an equal partner in government, and has served in that role ever since.” (Urofsky 1). Many viewed the Supreme Court as having little to no power, but after Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court became the final arbiter of the Constitution and thus became as powerful as the legislative and executive branches. Before Marbury v. Madison, legislative acts were on the same level as the Constitution because there was no one to say otherwise. Until Marbury v. Madison, the executive and legislative branches were able to write acts that gave them life terms and unlimited power, much as Napoleon did in France around the same time. The Constitution must be above any ordinary law because it is the framework for all our ordinary laws. In the opinion of John Marshall, "The Constitution is either a superior supreme law, immutable by ordinary means, or it is on a par with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is amendable when the legislature pleases to amend it." If the latter were true, then Congress could amend the Constitution to give itself unlimited power, fortunately the former is what came out of Marbury v. Madison. Marbury v. Madison happened because, first, the Federalist Party controlled the entire judicial branch, and while the executive and legislative branches were handed over to the Democratic-Republican Party, the Democratic-Republicans wanted all three branches. John Adams, at the last second try, appointed a series of new justices. This gave the Federalist Party an even stronger hold on the Supreme Court and the judiciary as a whole. Thomas Jefferson did his best to get rid of these new judges by never turning in their commissions. While in 1801 John Adams and the Federalist-controlled legislative branch employed a lot of Federalist judges. If the.