John Paul Stevens

“ If the retention of the taxes does not violate the Due Process Clause, but does violate the state constitutional provision governing illegal exactions, petitioners are entitled to relief as a matter of state law. The State has the right to provide relief for illegally exacted taxes and make its own judgment as to the equities free from this Court's determination that such relief would be unduly burdensome. ”

“ The author of Chevron Oil later explained: " [T] he mere fact that a federal statute providing for substantive liability also sets a time limitation upon the institution of suit does not restrict the power of the federal courts to hold that the statute of limitations is tolled under certain circumstances not inconsistent with the legislative purpose." American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538, 559 (1974) (Stewart, J.) . When the federal courts have no equitable discretion, we have held a federal court has no authority to refuse to apply a law retroactively. ”

“ The State Supreme Court held, and the plurality today acknowledges, that the Arkansas HUE tax, like the Pennsylvania flat taxes, violates the command of the Commerce Clause by exerting a pressure on interstate businesses to ply their trade within state boundaries.
In my opinion, the Arkansas HUE tax also violated the Constitution before our decision in Scheiner and petitioners are entitled to a decision to that effect. Like the taxpayers in Scheiner itself, petitioners timely challenged the constitutionality of the state flat tax. ”

“ But once a determination has been made that a party is properly before the Court and a new decisional rule properly states the law, interests of repose should play no role in determining the substantive legal rights of parties. ”

“ Petitioners are entitled to an adjudication of the constitutionality of the Arkansas tax under our best current understanding of federal law regardless of the good faith of the Arkansas legislators. The question of remedy or refund, on the other hand, addressed today in McKesson Corp. v. Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Dept. of Business Regulation of Fla., 496 U.S. 18, should be decided, not by us, but by the state court in the first instance. [2] The plurality's contrary conclusion is supported by nothing more than a misreading of the Court's opinion in Chevron Oil Co. ”

“ Insofar as the Court in Chevron Oil did not apply its interpretation of federal law to the parties before the Court, and affirmed the lower court's decision adopting a contrary understanding of federal law, that case does not even address the problem which is presented by this case, and was addressed by Justice Harlan, of disparate treatment of similarly situated parties. It is one thing for a court to address issues that are not indispensable to its judgment or to delay the issuance of a judgment ”

“ There are, of course, circumstances when a change in the law will jeopardize an edifice which was reasonably constructed on the foundation of prevailing legal doctrine. Thus, it may be that the law of remedies would permit rescission, for example, but not an award of damages to a party who finds himself able to avoid a once-valid contract under new notions of public policy. ”

“ Chevron Oil involved a controversy between two private litigants over application of the statute of limitations for actions under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. At the time the lawsuit was initiated there was a long line of federal-court decisions holding that the admiralty law doctrine of laches applied to personal injury suits under the Act, 404 U.S., at 107, and the defendant did not initially challenge the timeliness of the action. ”

“ Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314 (1987) , when we endorsed Justice Harlan's views on the subject of retroactivity:
"In Justice Harlan's view, and now in ours, failure to apply a newly declared constitutional rule to criminal cases pending on direct review violates basic norms of constitutional adjudication. First, it is a settled principle that this Court adjudicates only 'cases' and 'controversies.' See U.S. Const., Art. III, § 2. Unlike a legislature, we do not promulgate new rules of constitutional criminal procedure on a broad basis. ”

“ On May 27, 1983, before the effective date of the HUE Act, but after some $1,775,000 in tax revenues had been collected, [3] petitioners filed suit in the Pulaski County Chancery Court challenging the constitutionality of the Act under state law and the Commerce Clause of the Federal Constitution, Art. 1, § 8, cl. 3. Arkansas adheres to the common-law rule that taxes voluntarily paid cannot be recovered. ”

“ What we said presented a federal question in the passage quoted incompletely by the plurality, ante, at 177–178, was " [w] hether a conviction for a crime should stand when a State has failed to accord federal constitutionally guaranteed rights." 386 U.S., at 21. Arsenault presented a similar situation. The state court, under the guise of retroactivity, denied a remedy that was constitutionally required. Finally, in Payne, the state court was unclear as to whether a particular remedy was required by the Federal Constitution.
↑ In that respect, Chevron Oil Co. v. ”