The Judiciary Act of 1801

In the early years of the republic, a division occurred between two newly formed political coalitions. The Federalists, who supported the administrations of George Washington and John Adams, favored a strong national government, while the Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, preferred most governing to be done at the state level. Differences between Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans extended to their views on the judiciary. Federalists wanted to give federal courts increased authority to protect the federal government from interference by hostile state governments. Republicans, in the Anti-Federalist tradition, were wary of centralized authority and believed that most judicial power should remain vested in the state courts. While these coalitions lacked the formal structure of later political parties, competition between them intensified during the late 1790s, reaching a fever pitch when several Republican opponents of the Adams administration were prosecuted under the Sedition Act of 1798 for allegedly disloyal behavior.

https://www.fjc.gov/history/exhibits/judiciary-act-1801