AP U.S. Government 2.3 Institutions of National Government

answers Okay here we go Well the constitution's framers laid

down some pretty strict rules for setting up parts of

the new government But when it came to the judicial

branch they courted a less specific approach Not only did

the framers leave it to congress to set up most

of the court system they also gave those courts permission

to set many of their own powers including judicial review

the ability to strike down laws they believe to be

unconstitutional Did the supreme court first rule a state action

unconstitutional in a marbury versus madison Well marbury v madison

was all about appointments No not the doctor kind but

rather judicial appointments All right Well long story short John

adams wanted to appoint a bunch of federalist judges to

the court as a sort of screw you to thomas

jefferson the democratic republican who would soon be assuming the

presidency But jefferson caught onto adam's court packing plan so

he and secretary of state james madison refused to deliver

marbury His official appointment papers Even the case got its

name Yeah well marbury got in a tizzy about the

whole thing and went to the supreme court hoping for

a favorable ruling from fellow federalist and now chief justice

john marshall Well marshall had other plans He ruled that

parts of the judiciary act of seventeen eighty nine a

law passed by congress giving the supreme court the ability

toe weigh in on cases like marbury's were actually unconstitutional

The marbury v madison was in fact a landmark case

for judicial review But at the national level not the

state Did the supreme court first find a state action

unconscious stick to sh inal in be little v bar

eam wel l v b was all about a little

misunderstanding You see congress passed a law that said that

navy could seize any vote that was sailing to a

french port Since we were in a quiz i war

with france at the time No really that's what It

was called Go look it up President john adams didn't

think that law was strong enough So he ordered the

navy to seize ships sailing to and from any french

port That's How Captain little got swept up into the

sea change of judicial affairs He was sailing from a

french port and his appeal the supreme court led to

adam's Being found in the wrong sensing a pattern here

So little veba dream was the first time the supreme

court held an executive action not a state action to

be unconstitutional All right well did the supreme court first

exercise judicial review against the state law Indeed gibbons v

ogden i will gibbons and ogden were two folks bickering

over who held the rights to operate a steamboat between

new jersey and new york city Sounds little wishy washy

tow us Ogden held the license for the route that

was issued by the state of new york Gibbons obtained

his license from the u s congress Well the supreme

court ruled in favor of gibbons saying that the u

s had authority over the states when it came to

regulating commerce between two states but that's more about federal

supremacy over states not a specific state law Yeah it's

kind of tricky What about ian mccullough Free maryland Essentially

the state of maryland tried to mess with a branch

of the u s national bank by imposing a tax

on any bank that wasn't chartered in maryland What kind

of funny money businesses that well even though the constitution

doesn't give congress the express clear power to establish a

bang It does give congress the power to tax and

spend and what we need to tax and spend Well

well bank on uh a bank for that The constitution

also states that federal laws have supremacy over state laws

So the supreme court ruled that this particular state act

was not an act of kindness But this case was

more about increasing congress implied powers than overruling a state

law which means that the supreme court first ruled a

state action unconstitutional in see fletcher be peck fletcher be

peck had to do with a not so peachy land

transaction way down in georgia in seventeen ninety five the

state of georgia sold a bunch of territory under the

yazoo land act Later on though it was revealed that

lawmakers passed the yazoo land act in exchange for bribes

So the new legislature decided to repeal the law in

void all the contracts of people who had purchased land

in the transaction Now fletcher bought a tract of land

from pac The peck had gotten through the seventeen ninety

five act But once the law was repealed both of

them landed in oil Quite a pickle The supreme court's

ruled in the eighteen ten case that the act of

georgia lawmakers to repeal the yazoo land act was unconstitutional

It voided the sanctity of a sale guaranteed under the

contract clause of the constitution O c Is that contractually

correct answer with all these cases john marshall firmly established

the supreme court's power of judicial review ensuring that justice 00:05:10.514 --> [endTime] would be served at any level