In the 1923 case Wilson, County Collector of Taxes for the County of Marion, et al. v. Illinois Southern Railway Company et al., the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Illinois Southern Railway Company (ISRC). The dispute arose when ISRC challenged its tax assessment by county officials who had included in their valuation a portion of an interstate bridge owned and used by ISRC for railway purposes. The company argued that this inclusion violated both state law and the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause as it resulted in double taxation since Kentucky also taxed this property. The court agreed with ISRC’s argument, ruling that such taxation was indeed unconstitutional under federal law because it subjected part of their property to double taxation without providing any means to avoid or rectify it.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Wilson, County Collector of Taxes for the County of Marion, et al. v. Illinois Southern Railway Company et al., argued that the majority's decision to exempt certain properties from taxation was unjustified and inconsistent with previous rulings. The dissenters believed that all property within a state should be subject to equal taxation under its laws unless explicitly exempted by statute or constitutionally prohibited. They contended that there was no legal basis for excluding railroad terminals from this rule just because they were used partly for interstate commerce purposes – an argument accepted by the majority. Furthermore, they criticized the court's reliance on past decisions which had been made under different circumstances and did not directly address the issue at hand.