U.S. Supreme Court chief justice John Marshall. AP Images.

      Another factor of Marshall’s greatness is that he was the first chief justice to serve for any length of time. (He served for thirty-four years; the first chief justice, John Jay, had previously served the longest—six years.) Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served from 1902 to 1932, believed part of Marshall’s greatness lay in his “being there” during the formative period of the nation. But Marshall was more than just an accidental force of history; he had great leadership abilities that enabled him to guide the Court during his lengthy term.

      Whom did John Marshall believe should be chief justice?

      Marshall advised President John Adams that the appointment of chief justice should go to associate justice William Paterson, one of the drafters of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and a leading framer at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention that created the Constitution. However, President Adams did not offer the position to Paterson in part because Paterson was a close friend of Alexander Hamilton, with whom Adams did not see to eye to eye. Actually, Adams first offered the position to John Jay, the nation’s first chief justice, who had resigned in 1795 after serving nearly six years to become governor of New York. When Jay declined the appointment, many advised the president to select Paterson, the associate justice with the most seniority. Adams decided instead to nominate Marshall. When Marshall’s name was first proposed, many Federalist members of the Senate delayed his confirmation because they wanted Adams to nominate Paterson.

      What significant proposal did William Paterson make at the Constitutional Convention of 1787?

      New Jersey delegate Paterson opposed the Virginia Plan, which called for the creation of two houses of congress that would be composed of representatives chosen on the basis of population. This proposal did not favor the states with smaller populations, such as Paterson’s New Jersey, which would have fewer representatives in Congress. Paterson then proposed the so-called New Jersey Plan, or Paterson Plan, which called for one house of Congress that would be filled with the same number of members from each state. Paterson basically proposed what became the U.S. Senate.

      What member of the Marshall Court faced impeachment proceedings?

      Justice Samuel Chase, a partisan Federalist, faced impeachment proceedings for his conduct during several sedition prosecutions, including a trial involving James Callender in Richmond. Callender, as editor of the Richmond Examiner, was charged with sedition for his harsh comments about President John Adams. Callender wrote that Adams was “mentally deranged” and a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” Chase presided over Callender’s trial in a biased manner, keeping all Anti-Federalists off the jury and making other rulings favorable to the prosecution.

      Chief Justice Marshall expressed concern that the politically motivated impeachment would threaten the independence of the judiciary. He testified as a witness in the trial presided over by Vice President Aaron Burr. Attorney General John Randolph failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority on any of the impeachment charges for conviction. In fact, many Democratic-Republicans joined their Federalist counterparts and voted for acquittal on several of the charges.

      President John Adams was the subject of a sedition trial in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. A newspaper editor made disparaging remarks about the president, leading to a trial in which Chief Justice Samuel Chase—like Adams, a Federalist—was accused of behaving in a biased manner favorable to the prosecution. Chase faced impeachment proceedings as a result of his conduct. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

      Over what impeachment trial did Marshall preside?

      Marshall presided over the impeachment trial of Vice President Aaron Burr in 1807 in his capacity as a circuit judge. Marshall’s rulings in the case effectively nullified the prosecution’s treason charges against Burr. His rulings also increased the antagonism of President Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, who was not an ally of Marshall, a Federalist. The two had clashed through the years and the Marbury case only served to exacerbate tensions between the two political rivals.

      Whose attacks in the press caused Marshall to write anonymous replies under the name “A Friend of the Constitution?”

      Spencer Roane, a jurist on the Virginia Supreme Court, attacked the Marshall Court for several of its rulings. Roane’s attacks intensified in 1819 after the Court’s decision in McCullough v. Maryland, which Roane viewed as yet another attack on state sovereignty. Roane and friend William Brockenbrough wrote essays in the Richmond Enquirer, heavily criticizing the Court’s decision. Marshall responded with a series of newspaper editorials signed as either “A Friend of the Union” or “A Friend to the Constitution.”

      Which justice was considered the greatest scholar on the Marshall Court?

      Without a doubt, Justice Joseph Story was the greatest scholar on the Marshall Court and arguably the greatest scholar in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. He wrote a three-volume work entitled Commentaries on the Constitution, which was read by law students and lawyers across the country. He also published many other volumes on other areas of the law. He also helped found and taught law at Harvard University. It is rumored that Chief Justice Marshall once said to Story upon handing over an opinion: “This is the law; now you find the precedents.”

      U.S. Supreme Court justice William Johnson was known as the “first great dissenter.” Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

      Which justice is often referred to as the “first great dissenter?”

      Justice

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