Formation of government - social
The supreme court case of Marbury vs. Masison is well known for being the first case that exercised the line between the jurisdiction of the judicial and executive branch as placed under Article lll of the constitution. John Adams had appointed William Marbury as Justice of the Peace in the District of Colombia last minute before leaving presidency but under orders of Thomas Jefferson, the new president, the papers were never delivered. The man who was ordered to hold and not deliver the papers was James Madison. When this was taken to court it was found that the refusal to deliver the papers was both illegal and remediable. However, they found that the Judiciary Act of 1789 allowing the case to go to Supreme Court was itself unconstitutional since it extended the courts original jurisdiction as was in Article lll of the Constitution. The petition for Madison to be forced to deliver the papers was therefore denied. The importance of this case was that it finally exercised the right for the supreme court to declare an act, law, or reform unconstitutional, and that's exactly what they did. Marbury never did become Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia.