David Josiah Brewer,
New Orleans v. Stemple — Opinion of the Court
“ When the question is whether property is exempt from taxation, and that exemption depends alone on a true construction of a statute of the state, the Federal courts should be slow to declare an exemption in advance of any decision by the courts of the state. The rule in such a case is that the Federal courts follow the construction placed upon the statute by the state courts, and in advance of such construction they should not declare property beyond the scope of the statute and exempt from taxation unless it is clear that such is the fact. ”
