Judicial+Nationalism.-cm

Judicial Nationalism.

In 1816 Denny Martin, a British subject, wanted to sell land in Virginia inherited from his uncle who was a British Loyalist during the War of 1812. however Martin could not do this because Virginia law stated that no "enemy" could inherit land. The Supreme Court Ruled that this conflicted with Jay's Treaty, which protected land that belonged to Loyalists before the war. This helped set the Supreme Court as the nation's court of final appeal. The 1819 case of McCulloch vs. Maryland was Maryland's attempt to tax the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank of the United States. The Courts believed that the National Bank helped exercise their powers (stated in the Constitution) to collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, and raise armies. The "necessary and proper" clause let the government use their powers in anyway that wasn't prohibited by the constitution.John Marshall argued that a state government could not interfere with the federal government exercising its constitutional powers within a state. In the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden, the Court ruled that states could regulate commerce within their borders but the control of interstate commerce was a federal right. Many of John Marshall's decisions were attacked by defenders of states' rights and it helped with the making of the "necessary and proper" clause and the interstate commerce clause.