Court case #1 Cohens v. Virginia

Judicial Review was a form of separation of powers where actions by the legislative and executive branches are subject to review and can be invalidated by the Judicial Branch. This power is stated in the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (Article 4 clause 2) which basically says that state laws are not supposed to violate the Constitution and all state courts must uphold the national law. They also decide the constitutionality of state laws under state constitutions. If state constitutions contradict the Constitution, or any other national law, the state constitution must follow the guidelines of the constitution. The highest state court to decide issues like these is the supreme court. The idea of judicial review was established in the Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

Cohens v Virginia was a court case that took place in Virginia in 1821. The Cohen brothers were illegally selling DC Lottery tickets in Commonwealth in Virginia. The United States Congress had authorized the selling of lottery tickets in the District of Columbia. State authorities tried and convicted the Cohens, and were fined $100. In this case, the Cohens were successfully prosecuted by the state of Virginia for selling lottery tickets from D.C. in Virginia, who were therefore violating Virginia state law. John Marshal chief justice of the Supreme Court maintained the state’s original decision however the larger issue the court had dealt with in their decision making was that of reviewing state court cases.

The Supreme Court under John Marshal practiced judicial nationalism which meant that its decisions favored the federal government at the expense of states. The Supreme Court decided to validate its ruling with Article 3 section 2 of the Constitution along with the Supremacy Clause Article 6 was used to reinforce their decision which made federal law superior to state law. Virginia, however, decided that this was unacceptable and declared the decision the Supreme Court made null and void, even though it had upheld the previous conviction, because Virginia felt the ruling limited its rights as a state.