In the case of D.H. Holmes Co., Ltd. v. McNamara, Secretary of Revenue and Taxation of Louisiana (1987), the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a Louisiana tax statute violated the Commerce Clause by imposing higher taxes on out-of-state companies than in-state businesses for advertising materials printed outside but distributed within the state. The court found that this law was discriminatory against interstate commerce as it imposed a heavier burden on out-of-state businesses compared to those operating within Louisiana, thereby violating principles of fair competition underlined in the Commerce Clause. This decision reaffirmed that states cannot enact laws which unduly favor local economic interests over interstate commerce.

In the dissenting opinion for D. H. Holmes Co., Ltd. v. McNamara, Justice O'Connor argued that Louisiana's tax scheme violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S Constitution because it discriminated against interstate commerce by favoring local businesses over out-of-state ones in a way that was not justified by any state interest or purpose other than economic protectionism. She pointed out that while states have broad power to tax, they cannot use this power to discriminate against interstate commerce and create trade barriers which would disrupt free trade among states - something she believed Louisiana's law did by imposing higher taxes on catalogs from out-of-state companies compared to those of local firms offering similar products through their own catalogs or stores within the state.