Editing Marbury v. Madison (section)

==Background==
{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | total_width = 370
 | perrow = 2

 | image1 = John Adams A18236.jpg
 | width1 =
 | alt1 =
 | caption1 = President [[John Adams]], who appointed Marbury just before his presidential term ended.

 | image2 = Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson (by Rembrandt Peale, 1800).jpg
 | width2 =
 | alt2 =
 | caption2  = [[Thomas Jefferson]], who succeeded Adams and believed Marbury's undelivered commission was void.

 | image3 = Marbury.jpg
 | width3 =
 | caption3 = [[William Marbury]], whose commission Madison refused to deliver.

 | image4 = James Madison(cropped)(c).jpg
 | caption4  = [[James Madison]], Jefferson's Secretary of State, who withheld Marbury's commission.
}}

In the fiercely contested U.S. presidential election of 1800, the three main candidates were Thomas Jefferson, [[Aaron Burr]], and the incumbent president, John Adams.{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§ 2.2.1, p. 39}} Adams espoused the pro-business and pro-national-government politics of the Federalist Party and its leader, [[Alexander Hamilton]]. Jefferson and Burr were leaders of the opposition Democratic-Republican Party, which favored agriculture and decentralization. American public opinion had gradually turned against the Federalists in the months leading up to the election. The shift was mainly due to the Federalists' use of the controversial [[Alien and Sedition Acts]], but also due to growing tensions with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], with whom the Federalists favored close ties.{{sfnp|McCloskey|2010|pp=23–24}} Jefferson easily won the election's popular vote but only narrowly defeated Adams in the [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]].<ref name=":0" />

After the results of the election became clear, Adams and the Federalists became determined to exercise their remaining influence before Jefferson took office, and they did everything they could to fill federal offices with "anti-Jeffersonians" who were loyal to the Federalists.{{sfnp|McCloskey|2010|p=25}}{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§&nbsp;2.2.1, p. 40}} On March{{nbsp}}2, 1801, just two days before his presidential term ended,{{efn|The U.S. Constitution originally had new presidents take office in early March, which left a four-month gap between presidential inaugurations and the elections from the previous November. This changed in 1933 with the adoption of the [[Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twentieth Amendment]], which moved presidential inaugurations up to January 20 and thereby reduced the period between elections and inaugurations to about two and a half months.}} Adams nominated nearly 60 Federalist supporters to new circuit judge and justice of the peace positions the Federalist-controlled Congress had recently created. These last-minute nominees{{mdash}}whom Jefferson's supporters derisively called the "[[Midnight Judges Act|Midnight Judges]]"{{mdash}}included William Marbury, a prosperous businessman from [[Maryland]].{{sfnp|Brest|Levinson|Balkin|Amar|2018|p=115}} An ardent Federalist, Marbury was active in Maryland politics and had been a vigorous supporter of the Adams presidency.{{sfnp|Miller|2009|p=44}}

The following day, March 3, the Senate approved Adams's nominations ''en masse''. The appointees' commissions were immediately written out on parchment, then signed by Adams and sealed by Secretary of State John Marshall, who had been named the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in January but agreed to continue serving as Secretary of State for the remaining weeks of Adams's presidency.{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§&nbsp;2.2.1, p. 40}}{{sfnp|Paulsen|Calabresi|McConnell|Bray|2013|p=141}} Marshall then dispatched his younger brother [[James Markham Marshall]] to deliver the commissions to the appointees.{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§ 2.2.1, p. 40}} With only one day left before Jefferson's inauguration, James Marshall was able to deliver most of the commissions, but a few{{mdash}}including Marbury's{{mdash}}were not delivered.{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§&nbsp;2.2.1, p. 40}}

The day after, March 4, 1801, Jefferson was sworn in and became the third President of the United States. Jefferson instructed his new Secretary of State, James Madison, to withhold the undelivered commissions.{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§&nbsp;2.2.1, p. 40}} In Jefferson's opinion, the commissions were void because they had not been delivered before Adams left office.{{sfnp|Pohlman|2005|p=21}} Without their commissions, the appointees were unable to assume their new offices and duties. Over the next several months, Madison steadfastly refused to deliver Marbury's commission to him. Finally, in December 1801, Marbury filed a lawsuit against Madison at the Supreme Court, asking the court to force Madison to deliver his commission.{{sfnp|Chemerinsky|2019|loc=§&nbsp;2.2.1, p. 40}} This lawsuit resulted in the case of ''Marbury v. Madison''.