Examples of federal governments include those of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Russia, the former Soviet Union and the United States.
Through the system of checks and balances, it is the Supreme Court that makes final decisions regarding federal laws regarding specific cases brought before them.
McCulloch v. Maryland was a seminal case handed down by the Supreme Court in 1819 which prevented State legislatures from taxing federal institutions.
Dodson justifies the existence of this "pull" by arguing that state legislators and courts rarely exercise their constitutional power to deviate from Federal Law despite having the capability.
This case was brought as a class-action lawsuit by a group of African American rail workers to a Federal District Court in Texas and stating that "their collective bargaining agent be compelled to represent them fairly" in accordance with the Railway Labor Act.