Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. v. Wallace

288 U.S. 249 (1933)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P filed a suit in Chancery for a declaratory judgment. P claimed that the levying of a state excise tax on the storage of gasoline was invalid under the commerce clause and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. P claimed that they stored gas in the state and that D had demanded payment of the tax. The trial court sustained D’s demurrer to the sufficiency in law of the allegations relied on to establish the unconstitutionality of the tax. The trial court ruled in favor of D, and the State Supreme Court affirmed. The case came on appeal under section 237(a) of the Judicial Code to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court addressed the case or controversy aspect of the suit first.