In the 1935 case of Great Northern Railway Co. v. Weeks, State Tax Commissioner, et al., the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the railway company by declaring a North Dakota state tax unconstitutional. The tax was levied on gross earnings from interstate transportation and communication businesses operating within North Dakota's borders. The court found that this taxation method violated both due process and commerce clauses of the Constitution as it imposed an undue burden on interstate commerce activities while also taxing income earned outside state boundaries. This decision upheld principles established in earlier cases such as Fargo v Hart (1899) which held that states cannot impose taxes on operations or property located beyond their jurisdictional limits.

In the dissenting opinion for Great Northern Railway Co. v. Weeks, it was argued that the majority's decision to exempt certain types of property from taxation based on their use in interstate commerce contradicted previous rulings and principles established by the Court. The dissenting justices believed that there should be no distinction between properties used in intrastate and interstate commerce when it comes to taxation, as long as they are within a state’s jurisdiction. They pointed out that this principle had been upheld in numerous cases where businesses involved in both intra- and inter-state activities were taxed without discrimination or interference with federal authority over interstate commerce. Furthermore, they contended that if states could not tax such properties due to their involvement in interstate business, then many corporations would escape paying their fair share of taxes entirely - an outcome which they considered unjustifiable.