Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co. v. Hines

These appeals present a question of statutory construction. The Unemployment Compensation Law of December 5, 1936 (Second Special Session of 1936), P. L. 2897, which provides for the payment of contributions by employers into the Unemployment Compensation Fund, exempts from its operation (section 4(j) (5)) "service performed in the employ of the United States Government or of an instrumentality of the United States."1 The Supreme Court of the United States has never precisely defined the phrase "instrumentality of the United States." Is a state bank which is a member of the Federal Reserve…