Gorman v. Washington University

Background

An organization sued in a Missouri county court to stop a tax on its real estate, arguing the tax violated a tax-exemption in its charter and the Constitution’s contract protection. A trial court enjoined the tax, and Division One of the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed that the state constitution and statutes, as applied, conflicted with the charter and the federal contract clause. The U.S. Supreme Court granted review to consider the constitutional question raised by the state courts.

Reasoning

The central question became whether the U.S. Supreme Court could review Division One’s decision, given Missouri’s court structure. The Court examined Missouri’s constitution and court rules, which split the state Supreme Court into two divisions and allow a case involving a federal question to be transferred, on application, to the full court (the entire bench) for decision. Because a division’s judgment could be reconsidered by the full court, the division’s ruling was not the last state-court decision available. The Court emphasized that the party seeking federal review must show affirmatively that the state court judgment is the highest decision available, and the record here failed to do so.

Real world impact

As a result, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the writ for lack of authority to review this state decision. The dismissal does not resolve the underlying tax question on its merits; it leaves the state-court ruling and any state procedures for full-court review in place. Parties must first pursue available review in the state’s full court before seeking Supreme Court review of similar state decisions.