BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, Attorney-General to Frelinghuysen, July 9, 1883

Mr. Brewster to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Sir: Your communication of the 27th ultimo has received my consideration.

The judges of the State courts are sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, and it is consequently their duty to give effect to all valid laws and treaties of the United States, because the Constitution expressly provides that they, as well as the Constitution itself, “shall be the supreme law of the land.”

To compel the performance of this constitutional duty by the State courts there is but one way known to the law, and that is by writ of error from the Supreme Court of the United States.

But in cases such as the one presented in the record accompanying your communication, being cases pending in courts of general criminal jurisdiction, the question of jurisdiction should, as a general rule, be raised by plea, and not under the general issue.

This, I conceive, disposes of the question submitted.

I have, &c.,