Interstate Transit, Inc. v. Lindsey’s Empirical Analysis
283 U.S. 183 · 1931
Citation profile
15 federal appellate · 24 district · 87 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 217 later decisions (58 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2016 · most notably Clark v. Paul Gray, Inc. (1939), Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana (1981)
15 federal appellate · 24 district · 87 state decisions — followed in 26 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on John Hendrick v. State of Maryland · Louisville Gas & Electric Co. v. Coleman · Frank Kane v. State of New Jersey · Harry Gundling v. City of Chicago · Sprout v. City of South Bend
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 217 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““As such a charge is a direct burden on interstate commerce, the tax cannot be sustained unless it appears affirmatively, in- some way, that it is levied only as compensation for use of the highways or to defray the expense of regulating motor traffic. This may be indicated by the nature of the imposition, such as a mileage tax directly proportioned to the use, Interstate Busses Corp. v. Blodgett, 276 U.S. 245 , 48 S.Ct. 230 , 72 L.Ed. 551 , or by the express allocation of the proceeds of the tax to highway purposes, as in Clark v. Poor, supra [ 274 U.S. 554 , 47 S.Ct. 702 , 71 L.Ed. 1199 ] or otherwise. Where it is shown that the tax is so imposed, it will be sustained unless the taxpayer shows that it bears no reasonable relation to the privilege of using the highways or is discriminatory. Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U.S. 610 , 612, 35 S.Ct. 140 , 59 L.Ed. 385 ; Interstate Busses Corp. v. Blodgett, 276 U.S. 245 ,250-252, 48 S.Ct. 230 , 72 L.Ed. 551 . Compare Interstate Busses Corp. v. Holyoke Street R., 273 U.S. 45 , 51, 47 S.Ct. 298 , 71 L.Ed. 530 . But the mere fact that the tax falls upon one who uses the highway is not enough to give it presumptive validity.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““While a state may not lay a tax on the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce, Sprout v. South Bend, 277 U. S. 163 , 48 S. Ct. 502 , 72 L. Ed. 833 , 62 A. L. R. 45, it may impose even upon motor vehicles engaged exclusively in interstate commerce a charge, as compensation for the use of the public highways,- which is a fair contribution to the cost of constructing and maintaining them and -of regulating the traffic thereon.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A detailed examination of the statute under which the tax here challenged was laid makes it clear that the charge was imposed, not as compensation for the use of the highways, but for the privilege of doing the interstate bus business." (Italics ours.)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. State v. Johnson
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.