Jefferson orders Madison to withhold Adams's undelivered judicial commissions, triggering the Marbury lawsuit

On his first day in office, President Thomas Jefferson ordered Secretary of State James Madison not to deliver the remaining judicial commissions Adams had signed but failed to send. Jefferson argued that an undelivered commission was not a completed appointment and that the positions were void. William Marbury and three other appointees petitioned the Supreme Court directly for a writ of mandamus compelling Madison to deliver their commissions, setting up the constitutional confrontation Marshall would resolve two years later.