Supreme Court of the United States, 1941

Wisconsin v. Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co.

Supreme Court of the United States · Decided January 13, 1941 · Frankfurter, McReynolds, Roberts, Wisconsin, Penney

311 U.S. 452; 61 S. Ct. 253; 85 L. Ed. 274; 1940 U.S. LEXIS 17 (United States Reports)

Counsel

Messrs. Harold H. Persons, Assistant Attorney General of Wisconsin, and James Ward Rector, Deputy Attorney General, with whom Mr. John E. Martin, Attorney General, was on the brief, for petitioners,, Mr. John L. Connolly, with whom Messrs. Frederick J. Miller and G, Burgess Ela were on the brief, for respondent.

Cases that cite this one

14 later published cases cite this decision.

Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota (Supreme Court of the United States 1959)
Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. Walsh (2d Cir. 1944)
Commonwealth v. Eastern Motor Express, Inc. (Pa. 1959)
Southern Pacific Co. v. McColgan (Cal. Ct. App. 1945)
McLeod, Comm'r of Rev. v. Memphis Nat. Gas Co. (Ark. 1944)
State Tax Commission v. Memphis Natural Gas Co. (Miss. 1944)
Memphis Natural Gas Co. v. McCanless (Tenn. 1944)
Armco Steel Corp. v. Department of Revenue (Mich. 1960)
ET & WNC TRANSPORTATION COMPANY v. Currie (N.C. 1958)
International Harvester Co. v. Department of Taxation (Wis. 1943)
Mohegan International Corp. v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court 1959)
Memphis Natural Gas Co. v. Beeler (Supreme Court of the United States 1942)
Commissioner of Corporations & Taxation v. Ford Motor Co. (Mass. 1941)
Dunston v. City of Norfolk (Va. 1941)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

Mr. Justice Frankfurter

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case, involving another application of the Wisconsin Privilege Dividend Tax considered in Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co., ante, p. 435, is governed by that decision except for a contention made by this respondent but not pressed here in Penney1's case.

The Commerce Clause is invoked. Büt it is too late in the day to find offense to that Clause because a state tax is imposed on corporate net income of an interstate enterprise which is attributable to earnings within the taxing state, Matson Navigation Co. v. State Board, 297 U. S. 441. That liability for such a tax is made con-, tingent upon later happenings, as in the circumstances of the present case, makes no difference.

Reversed.

The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice McReynolds, Mr. Justice Roberts, and Mr. Justice Reed dissent for the reasons stated in the dissenting opinion in Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co., ante, p. 446.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.