The Supreme Court established that the federal tax power could be used to regulate commerce.
Congress had passed a law to regulate the production of oleomargarine. Defendant McCray, convicted for buying colored oleomargarine at a lower than legal price, claimed that Congress had exceeded its proper power to tax for revenue purposes. McCray maintained that the law violated the Tenth Amendment, which gave the states the right to tax on those matters not within the proper scope of the federal government, as well as his rights to due process and just compensation for an improper taking under the Fifth Amendment.
One of the dissenters in McCray, Melville W. Fuller left a small legal legacy to the Supreme Court, although he served as chief justice for twenty-two years.
As with McCulloch v. Maryland
Commerce, regulation of
Federalism
McCulloch v. Maryland
Taxing and spending clause