Northwest Airlines, Inc., et al. v. County of Kent, Michigan, et al.

Decided January 24, 1994. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 92-97 · 510 U.S. 355 (1994) · Cited 213 times

Holding

Section 11503 does not limit the States’ discretion to exempt nonrailroad property, but not railroad property, from generally applicable ad valorem property taxes.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–1.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Evansville-Vanderburgh Airport Authority District v. Delta Airlines, Inc. · 405 U.S. 707 (1972)
• Aloha Airlines, Inc. v. Director of Taxation of Hawaii · 464 U.S. 7 (1983)
• Maine v. Taylor · 477 U.S. 131 (1986)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe · 455 U.S. 130 (1982)
• American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Scheiner · 483 U.S. 266 (1987)
• Miranda v. Arizona · 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Berkemer v. McCarty · 468 U.S. 420 (1984)
• Bell v. Hood · 327 U.S. 678 (1946)
• Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston · 469 U.S. 111 (1985)
• United States v. New York Telephone Co. · 434 U.S. 159 (1977)
• United States v. ITT Continental Baking Co. · 420 U.S. 223 (1975)
• Far East Conference v. United States · 342 U.S. 570 (1952)
• Reiter v. Cooper · 507 U.S. 258 (1993)
• Colorado Interstate Gas Co. v. Federal Power Commission · 324 U.S. 581 (1945)
• Wardair Canada Inc. v. Florida Department of Revenue · 477 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Burks v. Lasker · 441 U.S. 471 (1979)
• Wyoming v. Oklahoma · 502 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Air Courier Conference of America v. American Postal Workers Union · 498 U.S. 517 (1991)
• Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt · 504 U.S. 334 (1992)
• Massachusetts v. United States · 435 U.S. 444 (1978)
• Stewart v. United States · 366 U.S. 1 (1961)
• Thigpen v. Roberts · 468 U.S. 27 (1984)
• Federal Energy Administration v. Algonquin SNG, Inc. · 426 U.S. 548 (1976)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk · 569 U.S. 66 (2013)
• Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Ore. · 511 U.S. 93 (1994)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Jones v. United States · 527 U.S. 373 (1999)
• Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly · 533 U.S. 525 (2001)
• El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. Neztsosie · 526 U.S. 473 (1999)
• Household Credit Services, Inc. v. Pfennig · 541 U.S. 232 (2004)
• Barclays Bank PLC v. Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. · 512 U.S. 298 (1994)
• National Pork Producers Council v. Ross · 598 U.S. 356 (2023)
• Gutierrez v. Saenz · 606 U.S. 305 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1994). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).