these first cases show the precedent he set. (1)The federal judiciary was established as a significant institution in 1801. President John Adams was leaving the office involuntarily and feared the death of the Federalist Party. He thought he could keep it going in the court system by appointing John Marshall as Chief Justice of the United States and the Judiciary Act of 1801 was another part of his plan. The law relieved the Supreme Court Justices from riding circuit and holding court away from home for the older men. It created circuit judgeships, which would be filled by Federalists. The Chief Justice appointment and the Judiciary Act made the courts a great political battleground. The Supreme Court was the main target because it was not considered a significant institution and received little attention. As Chief Justice, John Jay felt his duties so light that he became American minister to the Court of St. James?s and then to campaign successfully for governor of New York. He did not consider a second appointment to be worthwhile. Also, Oliver Ellsworth as Chief Justice had enough time to be a minister to France in 1800. It was not considered unusual for John Marshall to continue to be Secretary of State in the Adams administration for one month while he was serving as Chief Justice. (2)The Court never demonstrated itself to be a very powerful. The only case, British Debts Case, Marshall made his appearance as a lawyer before the court and lost presented an issue which was solved later by the executive branch of government. The court occasionally met without cases to hear. The decisions were not considered to be neither forceful nor articulate because there were six men offering six opinions about one subject. There was one instance where the Court sought to exert power in the case of Chisholm v. Georgia. They accepted the right of a citizen of one state to sue another state for breach of contract. The states and t...
