Melville Fuller

“ The levy of a tax warrant, like the levy of an ordinary fieri facias, sequestrates the property to answer the exigency of the writ; but property in the possession of the receiver is already in sequestration, already held in equitable execution, and, while the lien for taxes must be recognized and enforced, the orderly administration of justice requires this to be done by and under the sanction of the court. ”

“ So far as the order before us is concerned, we are not called upon to review the grounds upon which the assertion of illegality is rested. It has been repeatedly and uniformly held by this court that in a proper case for equity interposition an injunction will lie to restrain the seizure of property in the collection of taxes imposed in contravention of the constitution of the United States. ”

“ The legislature of a state cannot determine the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, and the action of such courts in according a remedy denied to the courts of a state does not involve a question of power.
The reasonableness of the contention that it would have been wiser, in this instance, for the circuit court to have directed the receiver to pay these taxes, and bring suits at law, in nine different courts, against the county treasurers of as many counties, to recover them back, need not be passed upon. ”