Montana v. United States

440 U.S. 147 · Decided February 22, 1979 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Montana v. United States was decided on February 22, 1979 by a vote of 8–1. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “State or local government tax” in the Economic Activity area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Montana et al. v. United States

SCDB identifiers: case 1978-042, docket 1978-042-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “State or local government tax”

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  440 U.S. 447Decided March 5, 19799–0Per curiam
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  437 U.S. 255Decided June 15, 19788–1John Paul Stevens
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  437 U.S. 267Decided June 15, 19786–3John Paul Stevens
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  435 U.S. 734Decided April 26, 19788–0Harry A. Blackmun

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Cases on the same legal provision: Estoppel

• Parklane Hosiery Co., Inc. v. Shore
  439 U.S. 322Decided January 9, 19798–1Potter Stewart
• Schweiker v. Hansen
  450 U.S. 785Decided April 6, 19817–2Per curiam
• Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Miranda
  459 U.S. 14Decided November 8, 19828–1Per curiam
• United States v. Mendoza
  464 U.S. 154Decided January 10, 19849–0William H. Rehnquist
• United States v. Stauffer Chemical Co.
  464 U.S. 165Decided January 10, 19849–0William H. Rehnquist
• Heckler v. Community Health Services of Crawford County, Inc.
  467 U.S. 51Decided May 21, 19849–0John Paul Stevens

Same Term, same area (Economic Activity)

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System v. First Lincolnwood Corp.
  439 U.S. 234Decided December 11, 19787–2Thurgood Marshall
• Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp.
  439 U.S. 299Decided December 18, 19789–0William J. Brennan Jr.
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Pennzoil Producing Co.
  439 U.S. 508Decided January 16, 19797–0Byron R. White
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Daniel
  439 U.S. 551Decided January 16, 19798–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Director v. Rasmussen
  440 U.S. 29Decided February 21, 19798–0William H. Rehnquist
• Butner v. United States
  440 U.S. 48Decided February 21, 19799–0John Paul Stevens

See all

Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error