John Adams Supreme Court Case

The night before John Adams left the presidential office he appointed various men to be Justices of the Piece. All of these men were Federalist like himself. One of which was William Marbury. However, when Thomas Jefferson came into office he refused to give the men that had been appointed last minute by Adams their federal commission. Jefferson used his secretary of state, James Madison, to be his voice about the situation. Enraged William Marbury and others sued the government and the case went to the Supreme Court. One of the members of the Supreme Court was the recently appointed Chief Justice John Marshall. Appointing the men to be Justices of the Piece was with in Adams constitutional rights as president. John Marshall says “ The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts and, like other acts, is alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. If the former part of the alternative be true, then
legislature act contrary to the Constitution is not law; if the latter part be true, then written constitutions are absurd attempts, on the part of the people, to limit a power in its own nature illimitable” (Marshall for the Supreme Court, 93). By saying this Marshall is saying that either the legislature can not change the constitutional rights of the president at all making the Constitution absolute law or that the legislature can change as much as making the Constitution pointless. In order to balance this out Marshall came up with the Judiciary Act. If two laws conflict with each other the courts must decide which one is more constitutional. In the Marbury V. Madison case both sides were considered constitutional so the court was forced to pick which one was more constitutional. In other words the legislature can change a law only if they find it unconstitutional. With this Marshall made it obvious that the Supreme Courts primary purpose was to ensure that all things done in the Government would be constitutional. Which is now called Judicial Review. According to Legal Dictionary in 1966 Ernesto Miranda was arrested for the rape of and 18 year old woman in Arizona.
Miranda never knew he did not have to speak with the police was interrogated and confessed and was sentenced to jail. Later an attorney looked over the case and requested Judicial Review Claiming that Ernesto’s rights has been violated. In 1966 The Supreme Court overturned Miranda’s Conviction, and ruled that if a person is going to be taken in as a suspect they must be informed that they do have a right to and attorney. The suspect also has to be informed that the do not have to speak. The supreme court also ruled that if the suspect is not informed of these right the evidence obtained before hand can not be used in court. These rights are now known as the Miranda rights. Judicial Review is important to the American people because it guaranties our rights and ensures that everything done in the American Government will be and has to be
constitutional.