In the McElvaine v. Brush case of 1891, Robert McElvaine was convicted for murder in New York and sentenced to death by electrocution. He appealed his sentence on the grounds that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled against him, upholding his conviction and sentence. This decision marked a significant moment in legal history as it affirmed that execution by electrocution did not violate constitutional protections against cruel or unusual punishments; thus setting a precedent for future capital punishment cases involving electric chair executions.

In the dissenting opinion for McElvaine v. Brush, it was argued that the court should not have jurisdiction over this case as it involves a state law issue rather than a federal one. The dissenting justices believed that the majority had misinterpreted and expanded upon previous rulings to justify their involvement in this case. They contended that just because an individual's constitutional rights may be affected by a state law does not automatically give rise to federal jurisdiction unless there is clear evidence of discrimination or unfair treatment based on race or color. In this particular instance, they did not see any such violation occurring with New York’s laws regarding capital punishment procedures and thus disagreed with the decision to intervene at all.