United States v. Dorgan

LAY, Circuit Judge.

The United States and Western Electric seek a declaratory judgment that North Dakota sales and use taxes are unconstitutional as applied to Western Electric’s purchases under a defense contract. In essence, they argue that Western Electric acts under the contract as a federal instrumentality and therefore enjoys the immunity of the Federal Government.

Western Electric contracted with the Army to design and install certain equipment at “Safeguard System” missile bases in North Dakota. When North Dakota informally evidenced an intention to tax the defense contractor, the…