Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0761
Case Information
- Content Scored
- Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. 87 (1810)
- Source
- Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Reports Vol. 10 (6 Cranch)
- Author
- Chief Justice John Marshall (opinion of the Court)
- Publication Date
- 1810-03-01
- Content Type
- Judicial Opinion / Legal-Normative Text
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-20
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
The Standard's property article at its strongest, carrying a genuine shadow the Standard will not hide. The Yazoo grant of 1795 was notorious legislative corruption — a bribed Georgia legislature granted tens of millions of acres to speculators; the next legislature, on public fury, rescinded it. By the time the case arrived, the land had passed to purchasers for value without notice of the fraud. Marshall held the rescission could not strip their titles: a grant "is a contract executed," and no state may "pass any... law impairing the obligation of contracts"; grants from a state are within the clause, for "the words themselves contain no such distinction." Georgia was bound by that limit, part of "what may be deemed a bill of rights for the people of each state." He grounded protection of the innocent purchaser in both the Constitution and "general principles which are common to our free institutions." Property alignment is near-maximal — property "fairly and honestly acquired" cannot be seized by legislative fiat (Article IX); a structural landmark — the first invalidation of a state law, the Contract Clause as a real limit, separation of powers observed (Article XVII); stable titles as the rule of law (Article XVIII). The shadow: the holding protected titles descending from a bribed grant and blocked the voters' legislature from undoing it — priced into a tempered Article XVIII. But the principle enforced is sound: the innocent buyer is not the briber, and property is worthless if any title can be voided by tracing it to an upstream wrong; the remedy for corruption is to punish the corrupt, not confiscate from good-faith buyers. Federalism tension (Article XII, 64) is mild — an express textual limit the states ratified. Scored as Legal/Normative text (85/15). Tier 1 nets to 77; the result is 79 — high Mostly America First. Principle scored, not result.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0761 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.