Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Congress may, of course, confer upon national banks the capacity to act as administrators and executors; but I do not think it is within the constitutional authority of that body to make such legislation binding upon the state against its will. The decision just rendered perhaps does not go that far; but it does uphold the power of Congress to impose its will upon the state in this respect if the state, in the exercise of its exclusive authority over the devolution of estates of deceased persons, permits any corporation which competes with national banks to exercise the powers mentioned. ”

“ So here-the State cannot lay hold of its general control of administration to deprive national banks of their power to compete that Congress is authorized to sustain.
The fact that Missouri has regulations to secure the safety of trust funds in the hands of its trust companies does not affect the case. The power given by the Act of Congress purports to be general and independent of that circumstance and the Act provides its own safeguards. The authority of Congress is equally independent, as otherwise the State could make it nugatory. ”

“ The relator has the permit, competing trust companies can act as executors in Missouri, the importance of the powers to the sustaining of competition in the banking business is so well known and has been explained so fully heretofore that it does not need to be emphasized, and thus the naked question presented is whether Congress had the power to do what it tried to do. ”

“ The particular invasion here sanctioned may not be of great moment; but it is a precedent which, if carried to the logical extreme, would go far toward reducing the states of the Union to the status of mere geographical subdivisions. ”