Minnesota v. National Tea Co.
United States Supreme Court
309 U.S. 551 (1940)
- Written by Paul Neel, JD
Facts
Minnesota (defendant) enacted a graduated tax on chain stores’ gross sales. A group of Minnesota retailers (plaintiffs) paid the tax and subsequently sued for refunds. The lower courts granted refunds. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the graduated tax on gross sales discriminated among chain store owners and violated the state and federal constitutional requirement of uniformity. In its opinion, the Minnesota Supreme Court discussed state constitutional law but analyzed the tax as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The opinion cited Minnesota law in the syllabus and analogized three Minnesota cases but cited five federal cases to resolve the constitutional issue. Minnesota appealed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Douglas, J.)
Dissent (Hughes, C.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.