This case was brought before the United States Supreme Court by the plaintiff, The United States. It involved four defendants in error: Jacob Knight, Benjamin Knight, Isaac Knight and Edward Knight. The dispute centered around a land claim made by the Knights in 1817 for an area of land located within what is now known as Alabama. According to their claim they had been living on this land since 1783 and were thus entitled to it under Spanish law at that time. However, when Alabama became part of the Union in 1819 Congress passed a law which invalidated all claims made prior to that date unless they could be proven with evidence from official records or other reliable sources. Since no such proof existed for this particular claim it was denied by both lower courts and ultimately appealed up to the US Supreme Court where it was also rejected due largely to lack of sufficient evidence proving ownership prior to 1819.

The dissenting opinion in the case of The United States vs. Jacob Knight, Benjamin Knight, Isaac Knight and Edward Knight argued that the court should not have granted a writ of error to reverse a judgment from the Circuit Court for Georgia. The dissenters believed that Congress had no authority to pass an act which allowed them to review state court decisions on questions of fact or law. They also argued that it was unconstitutional for Congress to grant such power because it would be usurping judicial powers reserved by the Constitution solely for federal courts. Furthermore, they contended that if this decision were upheld then any party who felt aggrieved by a state court ruling could appeal directly to the Supreme Court without having first gone through lower federal courts as required by established procedure and precedent set forth in prior cases. Ultimately, they concluded that allowing appeals directly from state courts would undermine both their jurisdiction and independence while creating unnecessary delays in resolving disputes between parties due process rights under law.