Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/228

200 will have no influence on my opinion. . . . We are willing to hear them as the opinion of Mr. Bayard but not as the opinion of the Executive/' ^

^ The third episode which confirmed JeflFerson's beli^ that the United States Courts were determined to thwart him politically occurred at the December Term in 1801, when, ten days after the Court convened, there was presented in an original suit a petition for a rule to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not be granted to require James Madison, Secretary of State, to deliver certain commissions as justice of the peace to William Marbury of Washington, and Dennis Ramsay, Robert R. Hooe and William Harper of Alexandria. The circumstances giving rise to this famous case of Marbury v. Madison are well known. A week before Jeflperson became President, the organic Act of the District of Columbia had been passed, Feb- ruary 27, 1801, providing for the appointment by the President of justices of the peace for the counties of Washington and Alexandria. On March 2, President Adams proceeded to appoint twenty-three for the former county and nineteen for the latter, and the Sen- ate confirmed them all, on March 3. The commis- sions had been made out in the office of the Acting

^ This was the only case (appearing in Craneki Reports) decided at the August Term; it had been argued Aug. 11, 12» 18, 1800» but postponed by the Court, Aug. 14, 1800, for further argument. See 4 DaUas, 84. The newspapers very generally published the opinion of the Court in full. See Aurora, Aug. 21, 1801.

One other case argued at this Term (but not decided until the succeeding December Term), WiUon v. Mason, 1 Crandi, 450, was notable for the fact that one of the counsel, Joseph Hamilton Daveiss of Kentudcy, was the first lawyer to appear before the Court from west of the Alleghany Mountains. "His eloquent presentation of this case won the admiration of Chief Justice Marshal and gave him a standing among the foremost Uwyers.** He had been appointed by President Adams as United States Attorney in December, 1800, and was removed by Jefferson in 1807. In 1808, he married Marshall's sister Ann. See Quarterly Pub. qf the Hist, and Phil. Soc, of Ohio (1917), XH ; and for an extraordinarily vivid description of his appearance in Washington in 1801, see Bench and Bar or Digest of the Wit, Asperities and Amenities of the Bar (1857), by L. J. Bigelow, Harper^ Weekly, April 27, 1867.