Commerce Court history

Maryland (1819, Marshall). The Court ruled that states cannot tax the federal government, i.e. the Bank of the United States; the phrase "the power to tax is the power to destroy"; confirmed the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States.

McIntosh (1823, Marshall). Established that Indian tribes had rights to tribal lands that preceded all other American law; only the federal government could take land from the tribes.

Georgia (1832, Marshall). Established tribal autonomy within their boundaries, i.e. the tribes were "distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries within which their authority is exclusive." Charles River Bridge v.

The company’s origins date to 1863, when Rockefeller joined Maurice B. Clark and Samuel Andrews in a Cleveland, Ohio, oil-refining business.

In 1865 Rockefeller bought out Clark, and two years later he invited Henry M. Flagler to join as a partner in the venture.

Ex parte Milligan (1866). Ruled that a civilian cannot be tried in military courts while civil courts are available.

By 1870 the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews, and Flagler was operating the largest refineries in Cleveland, and these and related facilities became the property of the new Standard Oil Company, incorporated in Ohio in 1870.

In 1877, the United States Supreme Court upheld these laws in a series of rulings, finding in cases such as Munn v.

By 1880, through elimination of competitors, mergers with other firms, and use of favourable railroad rebates, it controlled the refining of 90 to 95 percent of all oil produced in the United States.

The Standard Oil Company and affiliated companies that were engaged in the production, refining, and marketing of oil were combined in the Standard Oil Trust in 1882.

Civil Rights Cases of 1883. (A single decision on a group of cases with similar legal problems). Legalized segregation with regard to private property.

Illinois (1886). Declared state-passed Granger laws that regulated interstate commerce unconstitutional.

In 1887 Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, which established the Interstate Commerce Commission to stop discriminatory and predatory pricing practices.

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 aimed to limit anticompetitive practices, such as those institutionalized in cartels and monopolistic corporations.

S.S. McClure, founder of McClure’s Magazine, hired her in 1894.

The Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co. (1895). Declared the income tax under the Wilson-Gorman Tariff to be unconstitutional.

Ferguson (1896). Legalized segregation in publicly owned facilities on the basis of "separate but equal." "Insular Cases" / Downes v.

In 1899, however, the company renamed its New Jersey firm Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) and incorporated it as a holding company.

A reform Republican who ascended to the presidency after the death of William McKinley in 1901, Roosevelt’s youthful energy and confrontational politics captivated the nation.

As one historian wrote, “By 1904 a total of 318 trusts held 40% of US manufacturing assets and boasted a capitalization of $7 billion, seven times bigger than the US national debt.” With the 20thcentury came the age of monopoly.

New York (1905). Declared unconstitutional a New York act limiting the working hours of bakers due to a denial of the 14th Amendment rights.

Two years later, in 1906, Roosevelt signed the Hepburn Act, allowing the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate best practices and set reasonable rates for the railroads.

However, his successor after 1908, William Howard Taft, firmly believed in court-oriented trust-busting and during his four years in office more than doubled the quantity of monopoly break-ups that occurred during Roosevelt’s seven years in office.

In 1911, after dissolution of the Standard Oil empire, eight companies retained “Standard Oil” in their names, but by the late 20th century the name had almost passed into history.

Trust-busting and the handling of monopolies dominated the election of 1912.

Only in 1914, with the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, did Congress attempt to close loop holes in previous legislation.

Dagenhart (1918). Declared the Keating-Owen Act (a child labor act) unconstitutional on the grounds that it was an invasion of state authority.

Children’s Hospital (1923). Declared unconstitutional a minimum wage law for women on the grounds that it denied women freedom of contract.

U. S. (1941). The court upheld the constitutionality of detention camps for Japanese-Americans during World War 2.

Ex parte Endo (1944). The court forbade the internment of Japanese-Americans born in the U. S. (Nisei) Brown v.

Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954, Warren). Unanimous decision declaring "separate but equal" unconstitutional.

In 1961 the bank merged with the Imperial Bank to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and construction soon began to establish Commerce Court as its headquarters complex of buildings.

Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) changed its name to Exxon Corporation in 1972.

Wade (1973). The court legalized abortion by ruling that state laws could not restrict it during the first three months of pregnancy.

The recipient of numerous international awards over his career, Pei was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1983.

The CIBC sold the complex in April, 2000, now managed by GWL Realty Advisors, but the head office of the bank remains the anchor tenant.