Article 5 of 9 · 1803–1974
1803–1974: When presidents, Congress & courts contest the limits of office
Individuals: John Marshall (1755–1835), James Madison (1751–1836), Andrew Johnson (1808–1875), Richard Nixon (1913–1994), Gerald Ford (1913–2006)
Constitutional government depends on an uncomfortable proposition: people entrusted with power may be judged under rules they did not choose and cannot change by personal command. Court cases and impeachment trials reveal both the strength and limits of that idea.
A missing commission reaches the highest court
At the end of John Adams’s presidency in 1801, William Marbury was appointed a local justice of the peace, but his commission was not delivered before Thomas Jefferson took office. Secretary of State James Madison refused to supply it. Marbury sued. Chief Justice John Marshall faced a delicate conflict: an order the executive ignored might reveal the Court’s weakness, but yielding everything would leave constitutional interpretation to political officeholders.
In Marbury v. Madison, decided February 24, 1803, the Supreme Court held that Marbury had a right to his commission but that the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 authorizing the requested Supreme Court order conflicted with the Constitution. The Court therefore refused that remedy while declaring that courts could set aside federal legislation inconsistent with the higher law. Judicial review did not suddenly make judges all-powerful. Courts still depended on cases being brought, on jurisdiction and on other officials carrying lawful decisions into effect.
Impeachment is a constitutional trial, not a second election
After the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson resisted congressional Reconstruction plans aimed at protecting formerly enslaved people. In February 1868 he attempted to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, despite a federal statute restricting such action. The House impeached him on February 24. The Senate held a trial with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. On May 16 a decisive charge fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction; further votes on May 26 also failed. Johnson remained president.
Neither the House’s accusations nor the Senate’s acquittal can be collapsed into the claim that one branch simply “won.” Congress had authority to impeach and try; the president had rights to a defense; the Constitution required a demanding supermajority for removal. The episode also leaves harder questions about substantive policy: Johnson’s failure to protect freedpeople and the struggles of Reconstruction cannot be resolved by the procedural result of his trial.
A subpoena reaches the Oval Office
In the Watergate scandal, prosecutors sought recordings of President Richard Nixon’s conversations. Nixon asserted executive privilege. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in United States v. Nixon that a generalized confidentiality claim could not defeat the demonstrated need for evidence in the criminal trial at issue. Nixon complied with the order to surrender the tapes. As congressional support for him collapsed, he resigned on August 9, 1974; Vice President Gerald Ford became president under the constitutional succession rules.
This was not proof that the system always stops misconduct before damage occurs. The investigation took time and required journalists, prosecutors, judges and members of Congress to act within different institutions. It did demonstrate a working sequence: evidence was gathered, legal claims were tested, and an officeholder left without the Constitution having to be suspended. A republic’s rule of law is visible not only in what its laws say, but in whether officials comply when those laws become inconvenient.
Dates & decisions
- February 24, 1803: Marbury v. Madison establishes judicial review of federal statutes.
- February 24, 1868: House impeaches President Andrew Johnson.
- May 16 & 26, 1868: Senate votes fall short of removing Johnson.
- July 24, 1974: Supreme Court decides United States v. Nixon.
- August 9, 1974: Nixon resigns; Gerald Ford succeeds him.