In the 1892 case of Benson v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled on a matter involving counterfeit coins. The defendant, Benson, was convicted for possession and intent to defraud with counterfeit silver dollars. He appealed his conviction arguing that he had not been lawfully indicted because some members of the grand jury were prejudiced against him due to their personal knowledge about his criminal history. The court rejected this argument stating that it is not necessary for a juror to be entirely ignorant of the facts involved in a case as long as they can put aside their impressions or opinions and render a verdict based on evidence presented in court proceedings. Furthermore, no proof was provided by Benson showing any bias among jurors which could have influenced their decision-making process during indictment stage.

In the dissenting opinion for Benson v. United States, Justice Brewer argued that the defendant's constitutional rights were violated due to an improper jury instruction. He believed that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that they could convict based on a presumption of intent from possession of counterfeit coins, without direct evidence proving such intent. This, according to Justice Brewer, was contrary to established legal principles requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt for every element of a crime including criminal intent. The majority’s decision upheld this instruction and thus allowed conviction based on mere possession rather than proven intentionality which he saw as fundamentally unjust and unconstitutional.