Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Oregon, 223 U.S. 118 (1912) (No. 36)

Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Oregon, 223 U.S. 118 (1912) (No. 36)

Author: Supreme Court of the United States

Year: 1912

Case name: Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Oregon Opinion filed: 1912-02-19 Docket No.: 36 Citations: • 223 U.S. 118 • 32 S. Ct. 224 • 56 L. Ed. 377 • 1912 U.S. LEXIS 2220 Case holding summaries: • the “essentially political nature” of the question presented “is at once made manifest by understanding that the assault which the contention here advanced makes it not on the tax as a tax, but on the State as a State” • plaintiffs “demand of the State that it establish its right to exist as a State” • challenge to a license tax enacted by an initiative measure • the issue before the Court was "political and governmental, and embraced within the scope of powers conferred upon Congress, and not therefore within the reach of judicial power" • challenge to initiative and referendum provisions of state constitution • holding nonjusticiable a Guar- anty Clause challenge to Oregon’s initiative system • rejecting challenge to referendum mounted under Article IV, §4’s undertaking by the United States to “guarantee to every State in th[e] Union a Repub­ lican Form of Government” • holding nonjusticiable a Guaranty Clause challenge to Oregon's initiative system • The “essentially polit