Montana v. United States
- Decided
- February 22, 1979
- Docket
- 77-1134
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,633 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- recognizing that parties should be precluded from “contesting matters that they have had a full and fair opportunity to litigate” — Sirmans v. Caldera (2001)
- recognizing that re judicata avoids the “expense and vexation attending multiple lawsuits, conserves judicial ersources,” and avoids “inconsistent decisions” — (untitled) (2026)
- concluding that the purpose of res judicata is to protect litigants from the expense and vexation attending multiple lawsuits, conserve judicial resources, and foster reliance on judicial action by preventing inconsistent decisions — Jones v. United States, Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (In Re Jones) (1991)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
[*149] Mr. Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.
The State of Montana imposes a one percent gross receipts tax upon contractors of public, but not private, construction [*150] projects. Mont. Rev. Codes Ann. §84-3505 (Supp. 1977).1 A public contractor may credit against the gross receipts tax its payments of personal property, corporate income, and individual income taxes.[2] Any remaining gross receipts liability is customarily passed on in the form of increased construction costs to the governmental unit financing the project.[3] At issue in this appeal is whether a prior judgment by the Montana Supreme Court upholding the tax precludes the United States from contesting its constitutionality and if [*151] not, whether the tax discriminates against the Federal Government in violation of the Supremacy Clause.
I
Cite this
Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147 (1979)Read the full opinion
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