John Marshall was the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and he headed the Court during the era when the primary function of the Supreme Court was asserted, the task of settling constitutional disputes and deciding on the constitutionality of issues raised in the courts. Probably the most famous case of the Marshall court was indeed that of Marbury v. Madison in 1803, which established the right of the Supreme Court to undertake the judicial review of a congressional statute, a principal that pertains to this day and that gives the Supreme Court the power to overturn statues if they are deemed unconstitutional. The personality of Marshall had much to do with his choice of career, his success, his elevation to this high position, and many of the decisions he made and that his Court made under his tenure.
Marshall came to a Supreme Court that had been largely inactive in its first 12 years. Alexander Hamilton had stated in 1788 that "the judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power," and Chief Justice John Jay had expressed his fear that this situation was probably permanent. Marshall's candidacy for the Supreme Court was not supported enthusiastically even by his own party, but he would have a profound effect on the Court and the nation:
Within ten years the Court consolidated fear-reaching judicial power and in fifteen more put the authority of Congress on a broad and permanent constitutional footing. Not only did the Court legitimize national power but also influenced . . . the manner in which power was used to achieve policy goals (Newmyer, 1968, 19).
Newmyer (1968) also stated that John Marshall was well-suited for the role he undertook in this process:
Few Americans, with the possible exception of Washington, were so appealing. He was an aristocrat by birth and political philosophy (in an age when gentlemen still ruled) but a democrat in manner (when ...