Home > Great American Court Cases > McCray v. United States

Legal Citation: 195 U.S. 27 (1904)

Appellant
Leo W. McCray

Appellee
United States

Appellant's Claim
That a federal excise tax on artificially colored oleomargarine was unconstitutional under the Fifth and Tenth Amendments.

Chief Lawyers for Appellant
William Guthrie, Miller Outcalt

Chief Lawyer for Appellee
Solicitor General Henry Hoyt

Justices for the Court
David Josiah Brewer, William Rufus Day, John Marshall Harlan I, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Joseph McKenna, Edward Douglass White (writing for the Court)

Justices Dissenting
Henry Billings Brown, Melville Weston Fuller, Rufus Wheeler Peckham

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
31 May 1904

Decision
The Court denied the appellant's claim and let stand a fine of $50 against the appellant.