In the case of Arlan's Department Store of Louisville, Inc. v. Kentucky in 1962, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a matter involving state taxation and interstate commerce. The court upheld a decision by the Kentucky Court of Appeals that required Arlan's Department Store to pay use tax on goods it had purchased from out-of-state suppliers for its own use within the state (not for resale). The store argued this was an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce but Justice Hugo Black delivered the unanimous opinion rejecting this argument. He stated that since all businesses operating within Kentucky were subject to this tax regardless of where they sourced their goods, there was no discrimination against interstate commerce and thus no violation of constitutional principles.

In the dissenting opinion for Arlan's Department Store of Louisville, Inc. v. Kentucky, Justice Harlan argued that the majority had incorrectly applied the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to this case involving state taxation on out-of-state corporations. He contended that there was no constitutional issue at stake because states have a right to tax businesses operating within their borders even if they are incorporated elsewhere. The fact that these taxes might be higher for out-of-state companies did not constitute discrimination or violate due process rights in his view; rather it reflected legitimate differences between local and foreign corporations' relationships with the state government. Furthermore, he criticized the majority for overstepping its judicial authority by interfering with states' power to manage their own fiscal affairs without clear evidence of unconstitutional action.