Marbury v. Madison
Definition
Marbury v. Madison was an 1803 Supreme Court case that established judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws deemed unconstitutional.
Analogy
Imagine you're playing a video game with your friends and someone tries using an unfair cheat code. You step in as "game master" and declare this cheat code invalid because it breaks your agreed-upon rules - this is similar to what happened in Marbury v. Madison but with laws instead of cheat codes!
Related terms
Judicial Review: The principle under which courts can declare acts of either executive branch or legislative branch unconstitutional.
Supremacy Clause: A clause within Article VI of U.S Constitution which dictates that federal law is "the supreme Law of Land."
Constitutional Law: Law derived from interpretation and application of U.S constitution.
"Marbury v. Madison" appears in:
Subjects (1)
Study guides (3)
Practice Questions (6)
Why has the principle of judicial review, established by Marbury v. Madison, persisted in American government?
How did the Supreme Court exercise judicial review in the landmark Marbury v. Madison case?
What effect did the landmark decision in Marbury v. Madison have on the modern judiciary system?
What could have been a potential outcome if the Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison, had chosen not to establish the principle of judicial review?
What impact did the Marbury v. Madison case have on the judicial review process?
How did the landmark case Marbury v. Madison contribute to shaping the checks and balances system within the U.S. government?
Are you a college student?
Study guides for the entire semester
200k practice questions
Glossary of 50k key terms - memorize important vocab
Resources
© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.