Inscription of Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion in the Supreme Court building
William Marbury (1762-1835)
James Madison (1751-1836)
February 24th 1803: Marbury v. Madison
On this day in 1803 in the case Marbury v. Madison was decided by the United States Supreme Court, which established the principle of judicial review. The case arose when Secretary of State - and future President - James Madison failed to deliver documents to Justice of the Peace for Washington D.C. William Marbury which officially granted his title. The Court decided that the section of the 1789 Judiciary Act allowing Marbury to bring his claim to the Court was itself unconstitutional; on February 24th the Court ruled unanimously to this effect. The decision gave the Supreme Court the power to interpret the constitution and strike down laws as ‘unconstitutional’. Since then, the Court have made many high-profile rulings striking down state and federal laws unconstitutional. For example: school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954); school prayer in Engel v. Vitale (1962); teaching creationism in science lessons in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) and the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor (2013).
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