The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company v. Pilot Petroleum Corporation

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

The question this case presents is whether the state of Alabama may tax jet fuel, which is sold for export to a foreign country. Pilot Petroleum Corporation argues that the Alabama tax1 violates the Import-Export Clause2 of the United States Constitution. The district court granted the Louisiana Land & Exploration Company’s motion for summary judgment. After this court certified to Alabama’s attorney general that the constitutionality of its excise fuel tax had been drawn in question,3 in response to which we sought and obtained extensive briefs, the state of…