Law Commons^™

Great Ironies Of History: The Peculiar Historic Fable Of Marbury V. Madison, Eric J. Beckerman

Hofstra Law Student Works

On the first day of virtually every course in American Constitutional Law the case of Marbury v. Madison is taught. Students are usually told that this is the case that established what we refer to today as judicial review. They are instructed as to the continuing controversy of how "The Great Chief Justice," John Marshall, created out of thin air the power or the courts to pronounce acts of the other branches of government unconstitutional. A cursory review of the bare facts of the case usually accompanies the legal analysis of the opinion generally followed by extensive commentary and criticism …