Irvin v. Dowd

The problem represented by this ease is. as old as the Union and will persist as long as our society remains a constitutional federalism. It concerns the relation of the United States and the courts of the United States* to the States and the courts of the States. The federal judiciary has no power to sit in judgment upon a determination of a state court unless it is found that it must rest on disposition of a claim under federal law.* This is so whether a state adjudication comes directly under

*408review in this Court or reaches us by way of the limited scope of habeas corpus jurisdiction…