This Supreme Court case involves John B. Butler, Levi Reynolds Junior and William Overfield, who were all members of the Board of Canal Commissioners in Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs argued that they had been unlawfully removed from their positions by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and sought to be reinstated with back pay for lost wages due to their removal. The court found that while it was true that the defendants had been removed without cause or justification, there was no legal remedy available as a result since they were appointed at will and could therefore be dismissed at any time without cause or notice. Ultimately, this decision meant that despite being wrongfully terminated from their positions on the board, there was nothing legally binding them to those roles nor anything preventing them from being replaced by other individuals chosen by the state government.

In the dissenting opinion of this case, Justice Grier argued that the Pennsylvania legislature had no authority to pass a law which would retroactively remove members from office. He noted that such an act was in violation of Article 1 Section 10 of the United States Constitution, which states "No State shall…pass any Bill of Attainder." Furthermore, he argued that it was not within the power or scope of legislative action to interfere with appointments made by executive officers and thus render them void. In conclusion, Justice Grier concluded that while there may be some instances where a state can legislate on matters concerning public offices and their incumbents; however, this particular instance did not fall into one those categories as it sought to invalidate existing appointments without due process.