Sample/Practice Supreme Court Eras

Timeline of the Courts

What are been the major eras in the Supreme Court?

Hughes Court

Roberts Court

Marshall Court

1930-1941

2005-present

1801-1836

GOAL

1787

Warren Court

Taney Court

1953-1969

1836-1864

February 4, 1801 – July 6, 1835

laws that are unconstitutional. He wrote, “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” Along with increasing the power and influence of the judiciary, the Marshall Court also released decisions that strengthened the power of the federal government. Its decision in McCullough v. Maryland ruled that the Constitution gave Congress the authority to create a national bank, and that states could not legally tax such an institution.

In Federalist No. 78, Publius wrote that the Supreme Court was by far the weakest of the three branches. In the earliest days of the new American republic, the Court was indeed of little influence, hearing only a small number of cases for the first decade, nearly all of which were of small significance. Most legal disputes of significance were heard in state courts. However, this began to change when President John Adams appointed John Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1801. The Marshall Court heard a significantly larger number of cases than its predecessors and released opinions on numerous landmark cases. In the case of Marbury v. Madison, perhaps the most significant Supreme Court decision in history, Marshall established that the Court had the power of judicial review, or the authority to strike down

Marshal Court

Major Cases

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
• Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

McCulloch v. Maryland was the 1819 Supreme Court case dealing mostly with the issue of Federalism. The creation of a National Bank was encouraged by Alexander Hamilton, but opposed by Thomas Jefferson, due to lack of authority given by the Constitution. A National Bank was chartered, but then died 20 years later. In 1816, a National Bank was re-instated to help deal with debts from the War of 1812. This Second National Bank, established in Maryland, was taxed heavily by Thomas Jefferson and the State of Maryland. Federal Bank Cashier, James McCulloch, refused to pay the tax, stating that the state did not have the right to tax an institution of the Federal Government. Ultimately, the Supreme Court stated that Congress had the right to create the National Bank, under the Necessary and Proper Clause. Also, the State of Maryland did not have the right to tax the National Bank and the Federal Government under the Supremacy Clause.