In Salvador Castro v. Thomas A. Hendricks, Commissioner of the General Land Office, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a Mexican land grant could be confirmed by an American court after Mexico ceded California to the United States in 1848. The appellant argued that he had inherited title from his father who received it from Mexico before its cession and therefore should have been allowed to keep it under Article 8 of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which stated that private property rights would remain intact for Mexicans living in newly acquired territories. However, the respondent contended that since Congress had not passed any laws confirming such grants at this time they were invalidated upon annexation and thus no longer valid or enforceable within U.S courts. Ultimately, the Supreme Court sided with Hendricks ruling that while Article 8 did protect existing titles against forfeiture due to change in sovereignty; however these titles must still meet all other requirements set forth by Congress before being recognized as legally binding within U.S courts - including confirmation through special legislation enacted by Congress itself – something which had yet to occur at this point in time making them unenforceable until further action was taken on behalf of either party involved

In the case of Salvador Castro v. Thomas A. Hendricks, Commissioner of the General Land Office, Justice Grier wrote a dissenting opinion in which he argued that Congress had not intended to grant land titles to individuals who had obtained their rights through Mexican grants prior to California's admission into the Union as a state. He believed that such an interpretation would be contrary to public policy and could lead to chaos and confusion over property ownership in California. Furthermore, he argued that it was up to Congress alone - not the Supreme Court -to decide whether or not these pre-statehood claims should be recognized by granting title deeds for them; therefore, any decision made by this court on this matter would have been premature and inappropriate without congressional action first being taken on it.