Of course Jefferson declined to appear before Marshall,
through his Secretary of State, and finally, in February, 1803, Marshall
gave judgment, in what was, without any doubt, the most anomalous
opinion he ever delivered, in that it violated all judicial conventions,
for, apparently, no object, save to humiliate a political opponent.
Marshall had no intention of commanding Madison to surrender the
commission to Marbury. He was too adroit a politician for that. Marshall
knew that he could not compel Jefferson to obey such a writ against his
will, and that in issuing the order he would only bring himself and his
court into contempt. What he seems to have wished to do was to give
Jefferson a lesson in deportment. Accordingly, instead of dismissing
Marbury's suit upon any convenient pretext, as, according to legal
etiquette, he should have done if he had made up his mind to decide
against the plaintiff, and yet thought it inexpedient to explain his
view of the law, he began his opinion with a long and extra-judicial
homily, first on Marbury's title to ownership in the commission, and
then on civil liberty.
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