<P> Hylton v. United States, 3 U.S. (3 Dall .) 171 (1796), was the first case decided by the Supreme Court that involved a challenge to the constitutionality of an act of Congress . It was argued that a federal tax on carriages violated the constitutional provision regarding "direct" taxes . The Supreme Court upheld the tax, finding it was constitutional . Although the Supreme Court did not strike down the act in question, the Court engaged in the process of judicial review by considering the constitutionality of the tax . The case was widely publicized at the time, and observers understood that the Court was testing the constitutionality of an act of Congress . Because it found the statute valid, the Court did not have to assert that it had the power to declare a statute unconstitutional . </P> <P> In Ware v. Hylton, 3 U.S. (3 Dall .) 199 (1796), the Supreme Court for the first time struck down a state statute . The Court reviewed a Virginia statute regarding pre-Revolutionary war debts and found that it was inconsistent with the peace treaty between the United States and Great Britain . Relying on the Supremacy Clause, the Court found the Virginia statute invalid . </P> <P> In Hollingsworth v. Virginia, 3 U.S. (3 Dall .) 378 (1798), the Supreme Court found that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case because of the jurisdiction limitations of the Eleventh Amendment . This holding could be viewed as an implicit finding that the Judiciary Act of 1789, which would have allowed the Court jurisdiction, was unconstitutional in part . However, the Court did not provide any reasoning for its conclusion and did not say that it was finding the statute unconstitutional . </P> <P> In Cooper v. Telfair, 4 U.S. (4 Dall .) 14 (1800), Justice Chase stated: "It is indeed a general opinion--it is expressly admitted by all this bar and some of the judges have, individually in the circuits decided, that the Supreme Court can declare an act of Congress to be unconstitutional, and therefore invalid, but there is no adjudication of the Supreme Court itself upon the point ." </P>

The supreme court would most likely refer to the eleventh amendment in a case involving a