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Court Began As A Weak Traveling Body
- The Supreme Court was originally a weak, itinerant body serving small local cases and riding circuit.
- It lacked institutional prestige and centralized power in the early 1800s.
Cousins Turned Political Enemies
- John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson were bitter political rivals and cousins with deep personal and partisan animosity.
- Their feud set the stage for a landmark legal confrontation shaping American law.
Midnight Judicial Appointments
- In the last hours of John Adams's presidency he appointed dozens of federal judges, creating a partisan judiciary.
- Some commissions were signed but not delivered, which sparked the Marbury dispute.