<P> The implications of Adams's actions in appointing Federalists to the Supreme Court and the Federal courts, led to one of the most important decisions in American judicial history . Marbury v. Madison solidified the United States' system of checks and balances and gave the judicial branch equal power with the executive and legislative branches . This controversial case began with Adams' appointment of Federalist William Marbury as a Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia . When the newly appointed Secretary of State James Madison refused to process Marbury's selection, Marbury requested a writ of mandamus, which would force Madison to make his appointment official . Chief Justice John Marshall declared that the Supreme Court did not have the authority to force Madison to make the appointment official . This statement actually challenged the Judiciary Act of 1789, which stated that the Supreme Court did, in fact, have the right to issue those writs . Marshall, therefore, ruled that part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional because the Constitution did not expressly grant this power to the judiciary . In deciding the constitutionality of an act of Congress, Marshall established judicial review, the most significant development in the history of the Supreme Court . </P> <P> Among the repercussions of the repeal of the Judiciary Act was the first and, to date, only impeachment of a sitting Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Chase . Chase, a Federalist appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington, had publicly attacked the repeal in May 1803 while issuing his charge to a grand jury in Baltimore, Maryland: "The late alteration of the federal judiciary...will take away all security for property and personal liberty, and our Republican constitution will sink into a mobocracy, the worst of all popular governments ." Jefferson responded to the attack by suggesting to his supporters in the U.S. House of Representatives that Chase be impeached, asking, "Ought the seditious and official attack on the principles of our Constitution...to go unpunished?" The House took Jefferson's suggestion, impeaching Chase in 1804 . He was acquitted by the Senate of all charges in March 1805, with Vice President Aaron Burr presiding . </P> <P> The repeal of the Judiciary Act also ended the brief period of comprehensive Federal - question jurisdiction . The federal courts would not receive such jurisdiction again until 1875 . </P>

Where did the judiciary act of 1801 take place