Mullaney, Commissioner of Taxation of the Territory of Alaska, v. Anderson et al. (342 U.S. 415)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 3, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 342 U.S. 415 · 72 S. Ct. 428
- Decided
- March 3, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. The Territorial Legislature of Alaska, provided for the licensing of commercial fishermen in territorial waters, imposing a $5 license fee on resident fishermen and a $50 fee on nonresidents. Alaska Laws, 1949, c. 66. The Alaska Fishermen’s Union and its Secretary-Treasurer, on behalf of some 3,200 nonresident union members, brought this action in the District Court of the Territory ' to enjoin the Tax Commissioner from collecting the license fee from nonresidents. Plaintiffs contended that the Territorial Legislature was without power under the Organic Act to pass the statute, that the exaction complained of. unconstitutionally burdens interstate commerce, and that it is an abridgment of the privileges and immunities of citizens of other States forbidden by Art. IV, § 2 of the Constitution and by the Fourteenth Amendment. After trial, |,he District Court concluded that the differential between resident and nonresident fees rests . on substantial differences bearing a fair and reasonable relation to the objects of the legislation, and upheld the statute. 91 F. Supp. 907. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, one judge dissenting. 191 F. 2d 123. We brought the case here for. clarification of the limits on the power of the Territorial Legislature. 342 U. S. 865. Here, for the first time, petitioner…
Excerpt of a 9,999-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.