John Marshall Court (1801-1835)
John Marshall was the 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, succeeding Oliver Ellsworth. He was nominated on January 20, 1801 by President John Adams, just six weeks before Adams left office. The Senate confirmed Marshall on January 27, 1801, and he was sworn into office on February 4, 1801. Marshall was the longest-serving Chief Justice in Supreme Court history. His longevity contrasted with his three predecessors, who had lasted just 11 years in total. Marshall served as Chief Justice for over 34 years until he died on July 6, 1835 and was succeeded by Roger Brooke Taney. He outlasted all of the Associate Justices who were on the Court when his tenure began.
Formerly Secretary of State, Marshall would become one of the most famous Chief Justices. However, he was not the first choice for the position. Adams initially nominated John Jay, who had served as the first Chief Justice in the early 1790s, but Jay declined to return. In his letter to Adams explaining his decision, Jay noted that “the efforts repeatedly made to place the judicial department on a proper footing have proved fruitless.” Marshall would ensure that the Court received the “weight and dignity” that Jay found lacking.
The Marshall Court initially consisted of six Justices, but Congress soon added another seat. President Thomas Jefferson appointed three Associate Justices. Justice William Johnson replaced the retiring Justice Alfred Moore in 1804, while Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston filled the vacancy left by the death of Justice William Paterson in 1807. That year, Justice Thomas Todd took the seventh seat created by Congress. The next two appointments came from President James Madison, who added Justices Gabriel Duvall and Joseph Story to replace Justices William Cushing and Samuel Chase. Story remains the youngest Justice in Supreme Court history, joining the Court in 1812 at the age of 32.
Three more Presidents would appoint Justices to the Marshall Court. The only addition from President James Monroe was Justice Smith Thompson, who replaced Livingston. President John Quincy Adams appointed Justice Robert Trimble to replace Todd, but Trimble died barely two years after taking his seat. The Senate refused to confirm John J. Crittenden to fill this vacancy. This allowed President Andrew Jackson to appoint Justice John McLean to Trimble’s seat. In the last few years of the Marshall Court, Jackson also added Justices Henry Baldwin and James Moore Wayne to replace Justices Bushrod Washington and Johnson, respectively. Justice Duvall retired in early 1835 and had not been replaced when Marshall died.
The Marshall Court laid the foundations for many key areas of American law. Its major decisions addressed issues such as the powers of Congress, property rights, and relations with the Native American tribes. For example, the principle of tribal sovereignty built on an 1832 decision striking down a Georgia law. Perhaps the Court’s single greatest contribution, however, involved its own authority. In Marbury v. Madison, Marshall asserted the power of judicial review. This allows the Supreme Court to nullify a law or any other government action that violates the Constitution. By establishing the Court as the ultimate interpreter of the founding document, Marshall ensured its importance relative to the other branches of government.
In 1834, toward the end of Marshall’s tenure, the Court ordered the Justices to file their opinions in writing. Until then, the Justices had delivered most opinions orally, so published decisions consisted of transcriptions by reporters, although sometimes Justices provided additional notes.
Associate Justices on the Marshall Court:
- William Cushing (1789-1810)
- William Paterson (1793-1806)
- Samuel Chase (1796-1811)
- Bushrod Washington (1798-1829)
- Alfred Moore (1800-1804)
- William Johnson (1804-1834)
- Henry Brockholst Livingston (1807-1823)
- Thomas Todd (1807-1826)
- Gabriel Duvall (1811-1835)
- Joseph Story (1812-1845)
- Smith Thompson (1823-1843)
- Robert Trimble (1826-1828)
- John McLean (1829-1861)
- Henry Baldwin (1830-1844)
- James Moore Wayne (1835-1867)
Selected Landmark Cases of the Marshall Court:
Author: John McLean
Topic: Copyrights
No reporter has or can have any copyright in the written opinions delivered by the Supreme Court, and the Justices cannot confer on any reporter any such right.
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
The provision in the Fifth Amendment declaring that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation is intended solely as a limitation on the exercise of power by the federal government, and is not applicable to the legislation of the states. (This decision was essentially overruled by later cases.)
U.S. v. Percheman (1832)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
Private property generally should not be confiscated and private rights annulled on a change in the sovereignty of a territory.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Powers of Congress
The power to regulate commerce does not stop at the external boundary of a state, although it does not extend to commerce that is completely internal.
Johnson & Graham's Lessee v. McIntosh (1823)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
Native American inhabitants are to be considered merely occupants, to be protected while in peace in the possession of their lands, but deemed incapable of transferring absolute title to others.
Cohens v. Virginia (1821)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Role of Courts
A case arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States is cognizable in the Courts of the Union, whoever may be the parties to that case.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Powers of Congress
Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means that are appropriate, that are plainly adapted to that end, that are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.
Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816)
Author: Joseph Story
Topic: Role of Courts
The appellate power of the United States must extend to state tribunals when they take cognizance of cases arising under the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the United States.
Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Role of Courts
The question of whether a law is void for its repugnancy to the Constitution is a question of much delicacy, which ought seldom to be decided in the affirmative in a doubtful case. The opposition between the Constitution and the law should be such that the judge feels a clear and strong conviction of their incompatibility with each other.
Capron v. Van Noorden (1804)
Author: Per Curiam
Topic: Lawsuits & Legal Procedures
It is the duty of a court to see that it has jurisdiction. The consent of parties cannot provide it.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Author: John Marshall
Topic: Role of Courts
It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is. If courts are to regard the Constitution, and the Constitution is superior to any ordinary act of the legislature, the Constitution rather than such ordinary act must govern the case to which they both apply. A law repugnant to the Constitution is void.
