In the 1903 case of State Board of Assessors v. Comptoir National D'Escompte, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of a French banking corporation, Comptoir National d'Escompte de Paris (CNEP). The issue at hand was whether or not CNEP's New Orleans branch should be taxed by Louisiana on its capital stock and real estate located outside the state. The court held that it was unconstitutional for Louisiana to tax property owned by CNEP that wasn't within its jurisdiction. This decision upheld principles established in previous cases such as Delaware Railroad Tax Case and Pittsburgh & Southern Coal Co. v Bates which stated that states could only tax property within their borders unless there is explicit consent from Congress allowing them to do otherwise.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of State Board of Assessors v. Comptoir National D'Escompte, Justice Harlan argued that Louisiana's tax on debts owed to foreign creditors was not unconstitutional. He contended that this taxation did not violate any treaty between France and the United States nor did it infringe upon federal power over foreign commerce or impair obligations under contracts. The justice believed that states have a right to levy taxes within their jurisdiction unless explicitly prohibited by constitutional law or treaties with other nations. Furthermore, he asserted that if such state-imposed taxes were deemed unconstitutional simply because they affected foreign commerce indirectly, then many forms of legitimate state taxation would be invalidated as well since they could also potentially affect interstate and international trade in some way.