Goldberg v. Sweet
United States Supreme Court
488 U.S. 252, 109 S. Ct. 582 (1989)
- Written by Heather Whittemore, JD
Facts
In 1985 Illinois passed the Illinois Communications Excise Tax Act (the act), establishing a 5 percent tax on the charge for interstate telephone calls that originated or terminated in Illinois and were charged to an Illinois service address. To prevent a customer from being charged twice for the same phone call, the act provided a credit to any customer who could prove that he had already paid a tax in another state on a phone call to which the Illinois tax applied. Illinois collected the tax through telecommunications carriers who provided services to the customers. Illinois also charged a 5 percent tax on intrastate telephone calls. Jerome Goldberg (plaintiff) filed a class-action lawsuit in state court against the director of revenue for the state of Illinois (defendant) alleging that the act violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The trial court found the act unconstitutional under the four-part test provided by Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274 (1977). Under that test, a state tax is valid under the Commerce Clause if it applies to an activity with a substantial nexus to the taxing state, is fairly apportioned, does not discriminate against interstate commerce, and is related to services provided by the state. The trial court argued that the tax was not fairly apportioned, discriminated against interstate commerce, and was not related to services provided by Illinois. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the trial court, holding that the act was valid. Goldberg appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Marshall, J.)
Concurrence (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.