In the case of Ott, Commissioner of Public Finance, et al. v. Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co. et al., 1948, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a state could not impose an ad valorem tax on vessels used in interstate commerce if those vessels were only temporarily within its jurisdiction and had no permanent situs there. The Mississippi Valley Barge Line Company was incorporated in Delaware but operated barges along various rivers across several states including Indiana where it did not have any offices or terminals nor regularly docked its boats for substantial periods of time. Despite this transient presence, Indiana sought to levy taxes on the company's property (the barges). The court held that such taxation violated both the Due Process Clause and Commerce Clause of the Constitution as it interfered with interstate commerce by taxing property which was merely passing through rather than being permanently located within its borders.

In the dissenting opinion for OTT, COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC FINANCE, et al. v. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY BARGE LINE CO. et al., Justice Frankfurter argued that the majority's decision to strike down a Louisiana tax on interstate commerce was incorrect and inconsistent with previous rulings of the Court. He contended that this case did not involve discrimination against interstate commerce because all businesses operating in Louisiana were subject to the same tax regardless of whether they engaged in intrastate or interstate trade. Furthermore, he pointed out that Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co., an Ohio corporation doing business in Louisiana, had availed itself of benefits provided by Louisiana such as protection from its police force and access to its courts; therefore it should be required to pay taxes just like any other company benefiting from these services.