Final answer:
John Adams made midnight appointments of justices of the peace for Washington, D.C. after the election of 1800 to ensure the judiciary remained dominated by the Federalist party. These appointments were not delivered by the outgoing administration and were the subject of a Supreme Court case.
Step-by-step explanation:
After losing the election of 1800, John Adams made a flurry of 42 appointments of justices of the peace for Washington, D.C. in the last days of his presidency. His purpose in doing so was to ensure that the judiciary would remain dominated by his Federalist party. The Senate approved the appointments, and Secretary of State John Marshall stamped the officials' commissions with the Great Seal of the United States. But no one in the outgoing administration delivered the signed and sealed commissions to the appointees. The new president, Thomas Jefferson, instructed his secretary of state, James Madison, not to deliver them. One appointee, William Marbury, sued, asking the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus, a court order requiring Madison to hand over the commission.