On May 1, 1871, the Court ruled 5–4 to overturn "Hepburn v. Griswold" and find the Legal Tender Act constitutional — facially and as applied to pre-existing debt. The four justices who formed the majority in "Hepburn" (minus the late Justice Grier) all dissented in "Knox". The new justices, Bradley and Strong, were the deciding factor. Clifford submitted an 18,000 word dissent, angered that the Court would reverse its opinion in such a short amount of time. He also argued that the Legal Tender Act was facially unconstitutional, arguing that only hard money (gold and silver) with intrinsic value could serve as legal tender.