Hill v. Wallace

Hill v. Wallace, 259 U.S. 44 (1922), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that the Future Trading Act is unconstitutional use of Congress's taxing power.

The Futures Trading Act of 1921, approved August 24, 1921. 42 Stat. 187 187, c. 86 attempted to institute Federal regulation of grain futures contract trading by imposing a prohibitive tax on futures contracts traded on any market other than those that met the statute's requirements and were regulated by the Secretary of Agriculture. The court found it was an unconstitutional exercise of the taxing power of Congress. Congress responded to the Court's decision by passing the Grain Futures Act in September 1922 based on the Commerce Clause. The Grain Futures Act was held to be constitutional by the Court in Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. Olsen (1923)