United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Williams v. Riley, 280 U.S. 78 (1929)

Williams v. Riley

No. 12

Argued April 18, 1929

Decided November 25, 1929

280 U.S. 78

Syllabus

Statutes of California directed that all distributors of motor vehicle fuel should be licensed and pay taxes amounting to three cents per gallon sold, less an allowance of 1%, and provided for reimbursing purchasers of fuel not used for operating vehicles upon public highways. Plaintiffs, who, like thousands of other citizens and taxpayers of the state, must obtain fuel for operating their motor vehicles along the highways from the licensed distributors at prices enhanced by the 3-cent tax, sued the state officer charged with the duty of collecting the tax to enjoin him from so doing, alleging that the tax was in conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment, the federal Highway Act, and the constitution of the state. Held that the plaintiffs had no status to maintain such a suit. Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447. P. 280 U. S. 79.

Affirmed.

APPEAL from a decree of the district court (three judges) dismissing the bill in a suit to enjoin the state Controller of California from enforcing statutes imposing a gasoline tax.