The Bank of the United States appealed to the Supreme Court after a lower court ruled in favor of Jacob White, David Cummins, and Robert Bennefil. The bank argued that it had a right to collect on debt owed by White, Cummins, and Bennefil as part of an agreement between them. However, the three men countered that they were not liable for any debts due to their bankruptcy status at the time. In its ruling on this case, the Supreme Court sided with White et al., finding that under federal law bankruptcy proceedings superseded all other claims against those individuals' property or assets. This decision established precedent for future cases involving bankruptcies and creditors' rights; namely that when someone is declared bankrupt no one can claim any money from them until their creditors have been paid off first according to legal procedure.

The dissenting opinion of this case was that the Bank of the United States had no right to sue Jacob White, David Cummins, and Robert Bennefil for a debt they owed. The majority opinion held that since the bank was incorporated by Congress it could bring suit against its debtors in federal court. However, Justice McLean argued that while Congress may have given authority to incorporate banks, it did not give them any special privileges or immunities beyond those granted to other corporations under state law. He further noted that if such powers were implied from incorporation then all states would be subject to suits brought by federally chartered institutions in federal courts regardless of their laws on corporate rights and liabilities. As such he concluded there was no basis for allowing the Bank's suit against these individuals as they should only be liable according to state law which did not recognize debts due from private citizens as valid claims in federal court.