In the case of Carson Petroleum Company v. Vial, Sheriff and Tax Collector, et al., 1928, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether Louisiana had jurisdiction to tax oil stored in tanks owned by a Pennsylvania corporation (Carson Petroleum) but located within Louisiana's borders. The company argued that since it only used these storage facilities temporarily before shipping its product out of state for sale elsewhere, this constituted interstate commerce and should therefore be exempt from local taxation under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. However, the court ruled against Carson Petroleum on grounds that while goods are being stored prior to their transportation out-of-state they can still be considered part of a state’s internal economy and thus subject to local taxes. This decision upheld an earlier ruling by Louisiana's Supreme Court which also found in favor of applying such taxes.

In the dissenting opinion for Carson Petroleum Company v. Vial, it was argued that the Louisiana statute imposing a tax on oil stored in tanks should not be considered unconstitutional. The dissenting justices believed that this case did not involve an interference with interstate commerce and thus, there was no violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S Constitution. They contended that since the oil had come to rest within storage tanks in Louisiana and had become mingled with mass of property within state, it was subject to local taxation regardless if its future movement would be interstate or intrastate. Therefore, they disagreed with majority's view which held such taxation as burden on interstate commerce.