In Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433, 59 S.Ct. 972, 83 L.Ed. 1385 (1939), a group of Kansas State Senators who had voted to reject a proposed amendment to the federal Constitution challenged in the state courts the validity of the Lieutenant Governor's tie-breaking vote in favor of ratification. 307 U.S. at 436, 59 S.Ct. at 974. The Supreme Court found that they had standing, upon a grant of certiorari, to contest the merits of an adverse decision by the Kansas Supreme Court. But Chief Justice Hughes' opinion for the majority made it clear that the Court accorded standing to obtain review of a federal constitutional question only because there existed a legal interest accepted as sufficient for standing by the highest state court. Thus, the opinion held that the state senators had "an interest in the controversy which, treated by the state court as a basis for entertaining and deciding the federal questions, is sufficient to give the Court jurisdiction to review that decision." Id. at 446, 59 S.Ct. at 978. In Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939), the Court held that a group of state senators had standing to challenge a lower court decision approving the procedures used to ratify an amendment to the Federal Constitution. The Court reasoned that the senators votes-which would otherwise have carried the day-were nullified by that action. See id., at 438 (Here, the plaintiffs include twenty senators, whose votes against ratification have been overridden and virtually held for naught although if they are right in their contentions their votes would have been sufficient to defeat ratification. We think that these senators have a plain, direct and adequate interest in maintaining the effectiveness of their votes); id., at 446 (We find no departure from principle in recognizing in the instant case that at least the twenty senators whose votes, if their contention were sustained, would have been sufficient to defeat the resolution ratifying the proposed constitutional amendment, have an interest in the controversy which, treated by the state court as a basis for entertaining and deciding the federal questions, is sufficient to give the Court jurisdiction to review that decision).