#49 · 2026-09-24 · Case
McCulloch v. Maryland
Answer: McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). The Court held that Congress could charter the Second Bank as a means plainly adapted to enumerated ends under the Necessary and Proper Clause, and that a state may not tax or otherwise control the operations of a federal instrumentality; nondiscriminatory taxes on real property or shareholders’ interests were distinguished as permissible. ([law.cornell.edu](https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/17/316))
Rule to remember
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) established that Congress has implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause to charter a national bank and that states cannot tax or otherwise impede federal instruments under the Supremacy Clause (intergovernmental tax immunity).
Key elements and checks
- Implied-powers test: if the end is legitimate and within the Constitution, Congress may choose appropriate means not prohibited by the Constitution.
- Congress may incorporate a bank to aid taxing, borrowing, and spending—though incorporation is not enumerated.
- Supremacy: states may not retard, impede, burden, or control federal operations.
- Intergovernmental tax immunity bars discriminatory or targeted state taxes on federal instrumentalities.
- Permissible state taxes preserved: nondiscriminatory taxes on the bank’s real property and on shareholders’ interests.
- Judicial check: courts ensure asserted means are not a pretext for unauthorized ends.
In the source’s words
“Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution,”
M'CULLOCH v. STATE OF MARYLAND et al. | Supreme Court | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
“The result is a conviction that the states have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control,”
M'CULLOCH v. STATE OF MARYLAND et al. | Supreme Court | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
This is federal constitutional doctrine; state constitutions’ “necessary and proper” provisions vary for state powers but cannot limit federal implied powers or supremacy. States may tax federal-related activity where Congress consents; details depend on statute and case law.