Central Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Mealey et al. (334 U.S. 653)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 14, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 334 U.S. 653 · 68 S. Ct. 1260
- Docket
- No. 14
- Argued
- October 13, 1947
- Decided
- June 14, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Reed
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Rutledge
- Dissenting
- Justice Douglas, Justice Black, Justice Murphy (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a proceeding arising out of a determination by the Tax Commission of the State of New York, sustained by the courts of the State, whereby § 186-a of the New York Tax Law was construed to impose a tax on appellant’s gross receipts from transportation between points within the State but over routes that utilize the highways of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The appellant contends, against contrary conclusions below, that since the taxed transportation was interstate commerce, New York may not constitutionally tax the gross receipts from such transportation. In any event, it submits that the State may validly tax only so much of these gross receipts as are attributable to the mileage within the State. Before dealing with these issues, we must dispose of an objection to our right to deal with them. The State urges that the constitutional claims here pressed by the appellant were not passed upon by the New York Court of Appeals. The record does not sustain this challenge to our jurisdiction. The constitutional issues were undeniably raised before the State Tax Commission and on review before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, 266 App. Div. 648. The suggestion that these issues were not before the Court of Appeals is based on its statement that the question urged there was “not one of constitutional taxing…
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