The fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court served from 1801 to 1835, the longest term in history. Marshall wrote the Madison v. Marbury decision, which established judicial review (the ability of the Court to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional), and made the judicial branch equal in stature to the executive and legislative branches. 51JD48EBC8L__SL160_[Click on the book images for details, or to purchase.]

John Marshall: Definer of a Nation
By Jean Edward Smith
Holt 1998, 752 pages, $16.50 paperback

Marshall’s life was as full and adventurous as his term as chief justice. He fought in the Revolutionary War, served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and was secretary of state under President Adams. A moderate Federalist, he was bitterly at odds with his cousin and fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson. Marshall (1755-1835) was a warm, gregarious, modest man, with keen political acumen. Smith’s is the most comprehensive and enjoyable among the dozen-plus biographies of Marshall, but it leaves room for more scholarship on the subject. The author is a University of Toronto political scientist.
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The Great Chief Justice: John Marshall and the Rule of Law
By Charles F. Hobson
University Press of Kansas 2000, 256 pages, $14.35 paperback

Albert J. Beveridge, who wrote a four-volume biography of Marshall (published between 1916 and 1919), portrayed Marshall as willfully ignorant of legal precedent, which allowed him to craft his jurisprudence according to his political affiliations. Hobson, on the other hand, shows Marshall as having a masterful understanding of precedent. “Hobson’s research is impressive and his writing clear,” said Publishers Weekly. This book focuses on Marshall’s political and judicial life, not his personal life. Hobson is a historian at the College of William and Mary.
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The Chief Justiceship of John Marshall, 1801-1835
By Herbert A. Johnson
U. of South Carolina Press 1998, 340 pages, $24.95 paperback

A portrait of the Marshall Court’s activities and accomplishments, including the establishment of the supremacy of the federal government, and its interpretation of the commerce and contract clauses as foundations for economic development. Johnson is professor of constitutional law at University of South Carolina Law School.