In a series of decisions on tax immunities, the Supreme Court held that the federal government could not tax the income of a state judge, based on dual sovereignty of the state and the federal government.
Collector is of historical interest for its place in a line of opinions on tax immunities that began with Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland
Justice Samuel Nelson wrote the majority opinion in Collector, relying on the Tenth Amendment and theory of dual sovereignty to hold that state and federal governments were independent of each other.
In Collector, the opposite situation from Dobbins, the Court held that the federal government could not tax the income of a state judge. Justice Samuel Nelson
Dobbins v. Erie County
Graves v. New York ex rel. O’Keefe
McCulloch v. Maryland
Separation of powers