Berks Barrister Summer 2019 - 21

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to horseshoes. Brookhiser writes, "Eating, drinking,
were as important as quoits . . . [Marshall's] partying and
playing eased his mind of its labors; they aided his labors,
encouraging friendships across partisan and intellectual
lines." Today we do not have quoits, but we have the Bar's
softball team and the Endlich Law Club for the easing of
one's labors and the encouragement of fellowship.
Given his fervent belief in the need for a strong
national government, Marshall was an ardent defender of
the Federalist Party in Virginia, despite many Virginians,
like Jefferson, who believed in states' rights. Marshall's
passion attracted the attention of President John Adams who
appointed him to be part of a three-man commission to go
to France to negotiate a treaty that would resolve tensions
between the two countries. When the commissioners
refused to be bullied by the French, Marshall returned home
a hero.
Having made a national name for himself, Marshall was
elected to Congress and a year later President Adams tapped
him for the cabinet, as Secretary of State. The Federalists
went on to lose the presidential election of 1800 to Thomas
Jefferson, but the inauguration was not until March 4, 1801.
In the interim, Chief Justice Ellsworth retired, and after John

Jay turned down the opportunity to serve as Chief a second time,
Adams nominated John Marshall who was confirmed by the
lame duck Senate, with its Federalist majority, just a week later
on January 27, 1801. How times have changed!
And thus began a tenure of 34 years as Chief Justice, a
record that still stands. Brookhiser writes that Marshall's more
than three decades of leadership changed the Court from
being "an institution to which the Founding Fathers had given
relatively little thought into a pillar of the nation." Today, "there
is no question of its prominence-a prominence it owes, in the
first instance, to Marshall, the man who made it."
Brookhiser is excellent in describing the Marshall Court's
notable cases that are studied in law school. Recognizing that
"every legal case is a story," he holds the reader's attention with
his treatment of Marbury v. Madison (establishing judicial
review to strike down a law as unconstitutional); Fletcher v. Peck
and Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward (controlling
nature of the Contract Clause); McCulloch v. Maryland
(Supremacy Clause and expanded application of the "necessary
and proper" clause); and Gibbons v. Ogden (establishing the
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Berks Barrister Summer 2019

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