ShmoopTube

00:00

Thank you We sneak and here's your shmoop du jour

00:05

brought to you by judicial review the all night study

00:09

sash for first year law students In what case did

00:12

the supreme court first rule a state action unconstitutional thereby

00:17

strengthening its power of judicial review and hear the potential

00:21

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

00:27

down some pretty strict rules for setting up parts of

00:30

the new government But when it came to the judicial

00:32

branch they courted a less specific approach Not only did

00:36

the framers leave it to congress to set up most

00:39

of the court system they also gave those courts permission

00:41

to set many of their own powers including judicial review

00:46

the ability to strike down laws they believe to be

00:49

unconstitutional Did the supreme court first rule a state action

00:54

unconstitutional in a marbury versus madison Well marbury v madison

00:59

was all about appointments No not the doctor kind but

01:02

rather judicial appointments All right Well long story short John

01:05

adams wanted to appoint a bunch of federalist judges to

01:09

the court as a sort of screw you to thomas

01:12

jefferson the democratic republican who would soon be assuming the

01:15

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

01:19

he and secretary of state james madison refused to deliver

01:23

marbury His official appointment papers Even the case got its

01:27

name Yeah well marbury got in a tizzy about the

01:30

whole thing and went to the supreme court hoping for

01:32

a favorable ruling from fellow federalist and now chief justice

01:36

john marshall Well marshall had other plans He ruled that

01:40

parts of the judiciary act of seventeen eighty nine a

01:43

law passed by congress giving the supreme court the ability

01:45

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

01:50

The marbury v madison was in fact a landmark case

01:53

for judicial review But at the national level not the

01:56

state Did the supreme court first find a state action

02:00

unconscious stick to sh inal in be little v bar

02:03

eam wel l v b was all about a little

02:07

misunderstanding You see congress passed a law that said that

02:10

navy could seize any vote that was sailing to a

02:13

french port Since we were in a quiz i war

02:16

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

02:18

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

02:21

think that law was strong enough So he ordered the

02:23

navy to seize ships sailing to and from any french

02:27

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

02:30

sea change of judicial affairs He was sailing from a

02:33

french port and his appeal the supreme court led to

02:35

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

02:39

So little veba dream was the first time the supreme

02:42

court held an executive action not a state action to

02:47

be unconstitutional All right well did the supreme court first

02:50

exercise judicial review against the state law Indeed gibbons v

02:54

ogden i will gibbons and ogden were two folks bickering

02:57

over who held the rights to operate a steamboat between

03:01

new jersey and new york city Sounds little wishy washy

03:04

tow us Ogden held the license for the route that

03:07

was issued by the state of new york Gibbons obtained

03:10

his license from the u s congress Well the supreme

03:13

court ruled in favor of gibbons saying that the u

03:16

s had authority over the states when it came to

03:18

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

03:23

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

03:27

kind of tricky What about ian mccullough Free maryland Essentially

03:31

the state of maryland tried to mess with a branch

03:32

of the u s national bank by imposing a tax

03:35

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

03:37

of funny money businesses that well even though the constitution

03:40

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

03:44

bang It does give congress the power to tax and

03:47

spend and what we need to tax and spend Well

03:50

well bank on uh a bank for that The constitution

03:54

also states that federal laws have supremacy over state laws

03:57

So the supreme court ruled that this particular state act

04:00

was not an act of kindness But this case was

04:02

more about increasing congress implied powers than overruling a state

04:07

law which means that the supreme court first ruled a

04:10

state action unconstitutional in see fletcher be peck fletcher be

04:14

peck had to do with a not so peachy land

04:17

transaction way down in georgia in seventeen ninety five the

04:20

state of georgia sold a bunch of territory under the

04:23

yazoo land act Later on though it was revealed that

04:26

lawmakers passed the yazoo land act in exchange for bribes

04:30

So the new legislature decided to repeal the law in

04:34

void all the contracts of people who had purchased land

04:37

in the transaction Now fletcher bought a tract of land

04:40

from pac The peck had gotten through the seventeen ninety

04:42

five act But once the law was repealed both of

04:45

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

04:48

ruled in the eighteen ten case that the act of

04:51

georgia lawmakers to repeal the yazoo land act was unconstitutional

04:56

It voided the sanctity of a sale guaranteed under the

04:59

contract clause of the constitution O c Is that contractually

05:03

correct answer with all these cases john marshall firmly established

05:06

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

Full Transcript