Throughline Becoming Supreme | America in Pursuit
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Feb 3, 2026 A dramatic origin story of the Supreme Court, filled with political rebellions and family feuds. The transformation from a weak judiciary to a powerful national court. Midnight judicial appointments, John Marshall’s tactics, and the strategic rise of judicial review. Political battles around the 1800 election and how symbolism and legal strategy reshaped American power.
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Court Seen As The Weakest Branch
- Early Americans saw the Supreme Court as the weakest branch with no army or purse to enforce rulings.
- The Court originally lacked popular imagination as a powerful, independent institution.
Court Located In The Capitol Basement
- Rachel Sheldon notes the Supreme Court used to be literally housed 'in the basement of the Capitol.'
- That placement signaled how low people ranked the Court in national importance.
Election Of 1800 Polarized Politics
- The election of 1800 crystallized deep partisan divides between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.
- That contest reshaped how institutions and power were contested in the new republic.
