DECREE
This cause having come on to be heard on the exceptions to the Reports of the Special Master dated May 14, 1980, and September 15, 1980, and having been argued by counsel and this Court having stated its conclusions in its opinion announced May 26, 1981, 451 U. S. 725, and having considered the positions of the respective parties as to the terms of this decree, It Is Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed As Follows:
1. The exceptions of the defendant State of Louisiana to the Report of the Special Master dated May 14, 1980, are overruled and accordingly:
(a) the motions of the State of New Jersey, the United States and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation et al., for leave to intervene as party plaintiffs are granted; and
(b) the motion of Associated Gas Distributors for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted.
2. The exceptions of the defendant State of Louisiana to the Report of the Special Master dated September 15, 1980, are overruled, the plaintiff’s exceptions are sustained to the extent indicated in this Court’s opinion, and accordingly:
(a) the motion of the defendant State of Louisiana to dismiss the bill of complaint is denied; and
(b) the motion of the plaintiff States for judgment on the pleadings is granted in part.
3. The motion of the plaintiff States for entry of decree and the motion of the Solicitor General for entry of decree are granted. The motion of the defendant State of Louisiana for entry of decree is denied.
4. Section 1 of the Louisiana First Use Tax Act, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §47:1303C (West Supp. 1981), violates the Supremacy Clause and the Louisiana First Use Tax Act, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§47:1301^7:1307 (West Supp. 1981), is unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause.
5. Effective with the date of entry of this decree, the defendant State of Louisiana, its officers, agents, and employees are permanently enjoined and prohibited from collecting the Louisiana First Use Tax.
6. Within thirty (30) days after the entry of this decree, the defendant State of Louisiana shall:
(a) render to the plaintiffs and file with the Court a true, full, accurate, and appropriate account of any and all revenues collected pursuant to the First Use Tax Act and of the interest earned by the defendant as a result of its investment of these revenues and the interest earned thereon; and
(b) refund to the taxpayers any and all revenues collected pursuant to the First Use Tax together with any and all interest earned as a result of its investment of these revenues and the interest earned thereon, but to the extent that the First Use Tax revenues and the interest earned thereon have been invested by the defendant State of Louisiana in interest-bearing securities, the defendant State of Louisiana shall transfer to the taxpayers the proceeds of principal and interest from such securities as each of such securities matures.
7. The Court retains jurisdiction to entertain such further proceedings, enter such orders, and issue such writs as may from time to time be deemed necessary or advisable to give proper force and effect to this decree or to effectuate the rights of the parties in the premises.
Justice Powell took no part in the consideration or decision of these motions or this decree.
What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to determine the ideological "direction" of the decision ("liberal", "conservative", or "unspecifiable"). Use "unspecifiable" if the issue does not lend itself to a liberal or conservative description (e.g., a boundary dispute between two states, real property, wills and estates), or because no convention exists as to which is the liberal side and which is the conservative side (e.g., the legislative veto). Specification of the ideological direction comports with conventional usage. In the context of issues pertaining to criminal procedure, civil rights, First Amendment, due process, privacy, and attorneys, consider liberal to be pro-person accused or convicted of crime, or denied a jury trial, pro-civil liberties or civil rights claimant, especially those exercising less protected civil rights (e.g., homosexuality), pro-child or juvenile, pro-indigent pro-Indian, pro-affirmative action, pro-neutrality in establishment clause cases, pro-female in abortion, pro-underdog, anti-slavery, incorporation of foreign territories anti-government in the context of due process, except for takings clause cases where a pro-government, anti-owner vote is considered liberal except in criminal forfeiture cases or those where the taking is pro-business violation of due process by exercising jurisdiction over nonresident, pro-attorney or governmental official in non-liability cases, pro-accountability and/or anti-corruption in campaign spending pro-privacy vis-a-vis the 1st Amendment where the privacy invaded is that of mental incompetents, pro-disclosure in Freedom of Information Act issues except for employment and student records. In the context of issues pertaining to unions and economic activity, consider liberal to be pro-union except in union antitrust where liberal = pro-competition, pro-government, anti-business anti-employer, pro-competition, pro-injured person, pro-indigent, pro-small business vis-a-vis large business pro-state/anti-business in state tax cases, pro-debtor, pro-bankrupt, pro-Indian, pro-environmental protection, pro-economic underdog pro-consumer, pro-accountability in governmental corruption, pro-original grantee, purchaser, or occupant in state and territorial land claims anti-union member or employee vis-a-vis union, anti-union in union antitrust, anti-union in union or closed shop, pro-trial in arbitration. In the context of issues pertaining to judicial power, consider liberal to be pro-exercise of judicial power, pro-judicial "activism", pro-judicial review of administrative action. In the context of issues pertaining to federalism, consider liberal to be pro-federal power, pro-executive power in executive/congressional disputes, anti-state. In the context of issues pertaining to federal taxation, consider liberal to be pro-United States and conservative pro-taxpayer. In miscellaneous, consider conservative the incorporation of foreign territories and executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states or judcial authority vis-a-vis state or federal legislative authority, and consider liberal legislative veto. In interstate relations and private law issues, consider unspecifiable in all cases.