USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Thomas Jefferson and his Secretary of State James Madison attempt to deny the “midnight judge” appointments made by John Adams just before Adams handed over the presidency to Jefferson because Jefferson believed that judges should be chosen by the Senate, not the President.

Detailed explanation-2: -But outgoing Secretary of State John Marshall was unable to deliver all of the new judges’ commissions before Adams’s departure and Jefferson’s inauguration. Jefferson believed the undelivered commissions were void and instructed his Secretary of State, James Madison, not to deliver them.

Detailed explanation-3: -History has given us the image of a petulant President John Adams staying up to all hours of the night in his last days in office in March 1801, commissioning Federalist party members as judges throughout the land.

Detailed explanation-4: -Outgoing President John Adams quickly filled the new positions with Federalist lifetime appointees, known as the “midnight judges.” When Democratic-Republicans gained a majority in Congress the following year, they repealed the 1801 act and abolished the new judgeships.

Detailed explanation-5: -’Midnight Judges’ was the term coined by the Democrat-Republicans for the 58 judges appointed to the Federal Circuit courts and the newly-created D.C. courts by President Adams on the eve of his last day in office.