THE VINSON COURT

The Vinson Court was by far the least active in altering precedents. During its life span of seven terms, it formally altered precedent on only six occasions, the first of which did not occur until its third term. But in this term, 1948, it handed down three of its overrulings: Commissioner v. Estate of Church, 335 U.S. 632 (1949), an internal revenue tax case, overruled May v. Reiner, 281 U.S. 238 (1930), which had itself overruled a number of earlier decisions. Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Texas Co., 336 U.S. 342 (1949), is the first in a lengthy string of state tax cases we consider. This one, based on intergovernmental tax immunity, upheld the state's taxes against lessees of mineral rights on allotted and restricted Indian lands. Overruled was a set of five decisions, dating from 1914 to 1936. Cosmopolitan Shipping Co. v. McAllister, 337 U.S. 783 (1949), concerned the Jones Act liability of a wartime general agent appointed by the United States for injuries suffered by a seaman. The Court denied liabilty and overruled Hust v. Moore-McCormack Lines, 328 U.S. 707 (1946).

The next term, 1949, produced two overruling decisions, both of which were of considerable importance: United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56 (1950), a CQ-listed case, and Darr v. Burford, 339 U.S. 200 (1950). Rabinowitz initiates our ongoing concern with the Fourth Amendment. Armed with an arrest warrant, officers searched the desk, safe, and file cabinets of an office open to the public. The Vinson Court majority held the seized evidence admissible as a search incident to a lawful arrest, overruling Trupiano v. United States, 334 U.S. 699 (1948), a precedent of its own making.