De Butts v. Bacon and Others was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1810. The case involved a dispute between two parties over land rights, with one party claiming that they had been granted title to certain lands by an act of Congress while the other party claimed that their own grant from Virginia superseded any federal claim. The court ultimately ruled in favor of De Butts, finding that his grant from Congress did indeed take precedence over any conflicting state grants. In doing so, the court established important precedent regarding how states must respect congressional acts when it comes to granting titles for land ownership. This decision also reaffirmed the supremacy clause of Article VI of the Constitution which holds that laws passed by Congress are supreme law and cannot be overruled or ignored by individual states or local governments.

In De Butts v. Bacon and Others, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state court had jurisdiction over an action brought by citizens of one state against citizens of another in a dispute concerning land located in the latter. The majority opinion held that it did not have such jurisdiction because there was no diversity between the parties' citizenship as required by Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution. Justice Johnson dissented from this decision on two grounds: first, he argued that Congress had granted states concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts for cases involving controversies between citizens of different states; second, he maintained that even if Congress had not done so explicitly, it should be inferred from its silence on this matter given its general policy favoring judicial resolution of disputes rather than resorting to violence or self-help remedies. He concluded his dissent by noting that "the great object" underlying Article III's grant of exclusive original jurisdiction to federal courts was "to prevent collisions among different sovereignties," which would be undermined if individuals were denied access to justice when their rights were violated across state lines.