McCulloch v. Maryland case brief

McCulloch v. Maryland case brief summary
17 U.S. 316 (1819)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant appealed a judgment of the Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland finding for plaintiff, who brought a suit against the defendant to recover certain penalties under a Maryland act imposing a tax on all banks in the state of Maryland not chartered by the Maryland legislature.

CASE FACTS

• The Maryland legislature had passed an act to impose a tax on all banks, or its branches, within the state of Maryland, not chartered by the legislature. 
• The defendant, a cashier at the Bank of the United States, had issued notes that were not issued on stamped paper in the manner prescribed by the state act. 
• The plaintiff, State of Maryland, brought suit to recover penalties under the act. 
• The county court found for the plaintiff, and the court of appeals affirmed. 

DISCUSSION

• On appeal, the court reversed holding that the act to incorporate the Bank of the United States was a law made in pursuance of the Constitution. 
• Moreover, the court held that the law imposing a tax on the Bank of the United States was unconstitutional and void because the states had no power to burden the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress.

CONCLUSION
The court reversed the decision to uphold the tax on the Bank of the United States and held that the tax was unconstitutional because the states had no power to burden the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress.