Mullan & Another v. United States was a Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of whether the United States government had the right to tax the income of a foreign corporation. The case was brought by two foreign corporations, Mullan & Another, who argued that the United States government did not have the right to tax their income because they were not citizens of the United States. The Supreme Court held that the United States government did have the right to tax the income of foreign corporations, as long as the income was derived from sources within the United States. The Court reasoned that the power to tax was an inherent power of the government, and that the government had the right to tax the income of foreign corporations as long as it was derived from sources within the United States. The Court also held that the government had the right to tax the income of foreign corporations even if the corporations were not citizens of the United States. The Court's decision established the principle that the United States government has the right to tax the income of foreign corporations, regardless of their citizenship status.

In the case of Mullan & Another v. United States, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a tax imposed on distilled spirits by Congress was constitutional. The majority opinion held that it was, but Justice Field dissented from this decision and argued that Congress had no authority to impose such a tax under the Constitution. He reasoned that since taxes are only allowed for certain purposes enumerated in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution, and none of those purposes included taxing distilled spirits, then any attempt by Congress to do so would be unconstitutional. Furthermore he noted that while some states may have been able to impose such taxes due to their own state constitutions or laws allowing them too; federal taxation power is limited solely by what is granted in Article I Section 8 and nothing else can expand upon it. Therefore he concluded that because there were no provisions granting Congress authority over distilling spirits specifically they could not constitutionally levy a tax against them either directly or indirectly through other means like excise duties as they attempted here with this law at issue before the court today