Find a Landmark Case

Instructions:​ Your task is to search the interweb for a landmark Supreme Court case and briefly summarize it
based on what you read. Use the prompts below to give your summary. Please type your answers in ​bold​.

Name of Landmark Case (will always be Something v. Something): ​Chisholm v. Georgia

What is the focus of each side of the case (what are the positions of each side): ​In 1777, a South Carolina
businessman, Robert Farquhar, sold supplies for the American Revolution to the Executive Council of
Georgia. The supplies were delivered, but Georgia didn’t pay as they’d promised. After Farquhar’s
death, Alexander Chisholm, the executor of his estate, took the case to court, trying to collect the
money from the state of Georgia. Georgia claimed that is was not under the jurisdiction of the federal
courts. United States Attorney General Edmund Randolph argued the case for the plaintiff before the
court. The defendant, Georgia, refused to appear, claiming that, as a sovereign state, it couldn’t be
sued without granting its consent to the suit.

Summarize the outcome of the case: ​In a 4 to 1 decision, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, with
Chief Justice John Jay and Associate Justices John Blair, James Wilson, and William Cushing making
up the majority. Only Justice James Iredell dissented. The court ruled that Article 3, Section 2 of the
Constitution didn’t give the states sovereign immunity. So, the Court ruled that Georgia was subject to
the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Why is this case considered a landmark case: ​This case showed that the Constitution didn’t give the
states sovereign immunity. It gave federal courts the power to hear cases between private citizens and
states.

*Extra: ​This case led directly to the passage of the Eleventh Amendment in 1795. This Amendment
established that federal courts didn’t have the power to hear cases between private citizens and states.