Congress in the Judiciary Act of 1789 granted the Supreme Court power to review the decisions of state courts when federal questions were involved. Section 25 of the 1789 Judiciary Act granted the Supreme Court the power to review final judgments from the highest court of a state that had denied the validity of a federal statute, treaty, or authority of the United States or that had upheld a state statute or authority against a constitutional challenge. Section 25 also provided for Supreme Court review of cases in which any claim of a right under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States was denied. The Supreme Court had exercised its jurisdiction over state courts for over two decades when the Virginia Court of Appeals challenged it as an unconstitutional infringement on state sovereignty in the 1816 case of Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee. In Martin, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution deemed federal law the “supreme law of the land” and held that it was the proper duty of the Supreme Court to ensure that national interests were not contravened by state goals or prejudices. In the 1821 case of Cohens v. Virginia, the Supreme Court upheld its authority to review state criminal cases in which claims to federal rights had been denied.

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