Ableman v. Booth

The Court held that state courts cannot override federal court decisions, reinforcing federal judicial supremacy.

Overview

Sherman Booth, a Wisconsin abolitionist jailed for helping a fugitive slave escape, was freed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional and ordered his release from federal custody. Chief Justice Taney, for a unanimous Court, held that state courts lacked power to review or interfere with federal judgments, and that Wisconsin's nullification attempt was incompatible with the constitutional order. Though arising from the slavery controversy, Ableman established the enduring principle that federal court decisions bind state courts, later invoked during the school desegregation crises of the twentieth century.