William O. Douglas

“ On March 20, 1936, Congress enacted a statute providing that shares of preferred stock of national banks 'heretofore or hereafter acquired by' the Reconstruction Finance Corporation 'shall not, so long as Reconstruction Finance Corporation shall continue to own the same, be subject to any taxation by the United States, by any Territory, dependency, or possession thereof, or the District of Columbia, or by any State, county, municipality, or local taxing authority, whether now, heretofore, or hereafter imposed, levied, or assessed, and whether for a past, present, or future taxing period'. ”

“ In response to that certification the United States submitted a brief as amicus curiae.
Petitioners contend that the Act of March 20, 1936, violates the Fifth and the Tenth Amendments. They further argue that the word 'person' as used in the Fifth Amendment includes counties and states; and that they may raise the Tenth Amendment issue since they are asserting the authority of the State of Arizona in assessing and in attempting to collect the taxes in question. ”

“ It sued petitioners [1] to restrain the collection of certain state, county, school district and municipal taxes for the years 1935 and 1936 and invoked the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona under § 24 (1) (a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C. § 41 (1) (a) , 28 U.S.C.A. § 41 (1) (a) .
Respondent has two classes of shares of capital stock outstanding-common and preferred. Prior to March 9, 1933, national banks were not authorized to issue preferred shares. ”