Cohens v VA PDF

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Cohens v. Virginia In Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. (19 U.S.) 264 (1821), a case arose from the conviction of the Cohen brothers in a Norfolk court for selling District of Columbia lottery tickets in violation of Virginia laws. The Cohens claimed that under the supremacy clause, they were immune from state laws in selling congressionally authorized lottery tickets. The Supreme Court (U.S.) ultimately decided against them on the merits, reading the congressional statute as conferring no such immunity. But the major issue was jurisdictional: did the Supreme Court have constitutional authority to review state criminal judgments? Virginia’s counsel not only reiterated the arguments advanced in Martin, but found new ones. They emphasized that here, unlike in Martin, the state was a named party in the case, and they argued especially that the grant of original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court of cases “in which a state shall be a party” excluded the exercise of appellate jurisdiction in such cases. They claimed too that the Constitution did not confer federal jurisdiction in controversies between a State and its own citizens and that the Eleventh Amendment in any event barred review. Those arguments gave the Court the opportunity not only to reaffirm but also to extend the principles of Martin. Name (N): Cohens. v. Virginia Citation (C): 6 Wheat. (19 U. S. ) 264 (1821) Essential Facts (EF): lottery ticket sale –conviction Issue (I): Does the Constitution give the Supreme Court power to review state (crml) judgements? Holding (H): The Constitution gives Sup. Ct. the power to review state (crml) judgements. R: 1) The Supremacy Clause 2) The Appellate Jurisdiction (AJ) Cl. 3) The Original Jurisdiction (OJ) Cl. 4) The Arisings Clause. 5) The Federal District Cl. 6) Martin 7) The Wash. D.C. statute

(Constitl Clauses)

(Cases—fed.) ( Cong. Statutes) (State cases) 8) The Virginia lottery statute (State statutes) ________________________________________________ Also: If text includes 1) Concurring Opinion -- give one sentence summary 2) Dissenting Opinion “ “...