THE CASE MARBURY V. MADISON: THE BIRTH OF JUDICIAL REVIEW AS A POLITICAL ARTIFICE

The case Marbury v. Madison is written in history as the leading case of judicial review in the Supreme Court of United States of America, but a closer analysis reveals a decision that, beyond its juridical content, had a strong political content. This paper studies the political context of the first years of XIX century in United States to claim, from the critical lecture of chief justice Marshall's decision, the political dispute and the statement of power that leaves behind the juridical affirmation of Supreme Court as the guardian of the Constitution. In a historical period in which the state bodies of the rising north-American republic are yet disputing their spaces of power, the Marbury v. Madison decision affirms an important power of the American Supreme Court, by constructing in juridical terms its power to control the constitutionality, but, never the less, politically establishing for the young Supreme Court a new branch of power.