In The United States, Appellants v. Archibald A. Ritchie, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state court had jurisdiction over a case involving an alleged violation of federal law by a non-resident defendant. At issue in this case was whether the Circuit Court of Maryland had authority to try and convict Ritchie for violating the Revenue Act of 1851 which prohibited any person from selling or offering for sale foreign merchandise without paying duties on it as required by law. The Supreme Court held that while states have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts over certain matters, they do not have exclusive jurisdiction when Congress has legislated otherwise; thus, in this instance where Congress had specifically provided that violations of revenue laws should be tried in district courts rather than state courts, only those district courts could hear such cases and not state ones like Maryland's Circuit Courts.

In the case of The United States v. Archibald A. Ritchie, Chief Justice Taney delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that Congress had no authority to pass an act allowing for the seizure and forfeiture of vessels engaged in illegal trade with foreign nations. He reasoned that such power was reserved exclusively to the states under their police powers, as it did not involve any regulation of commerce between different states or with foreign countries; rather, it involved only regulations within each state's own jurisdiction. Furthermore, he argued that even if Congress could legislate on this matter, they would still need to provide due process protections for those accused before seizing their property without compensation - something which was not done here. Ultimately then, Chief Justice Taney concluded that while Congress may have intended well by passing this law in order to protect American citizens from harm caused by illicit trading practices abroad, they lacked both constitutional authority and proper procedural safeguards necessary for its enforcement against individuals like Mr. Ritchie who were merely suspected but never convicted of engaging in such activities