John Marshall (1755-1835) was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 to his death. He contributed intensively to the development of the legal system of the US.
He was behind some of the most famous court proceedings in the history of the US, such as Marbury v. Madison (1803). The resulting court ruling stated that no law can oppose the federal Consitution, and that any law doing so would be declared null. Moreover, it appoints that all powers including the judiciary are submitted to the Constitution.
Later on, he made some other decisions which have become main pillars of the jurisprudence related to federalism. For example, he consolidated the independence of the courts from other powers and ruled the relationships between the states and the federal government during the early years of the US as a state, by constantly supporting the supremacy of the federal laws.