List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 288

This is a list of cases reported in volume 288 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1933.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 288 U.S.
The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . .". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices). Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).

When the cases in volume 288 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

Louis K. Liggett Company v. Lee
In Louis K. Liggett Company v. Lee, 288 U.S. 517 (1933), the Supreme Court held § 5 of the Florida Act, which increased taxes if stores were present in more than one county, was unreasonable and arbitrary and violated the equal protection clause. Justice Brandeis dissented; he agreed with the race to the bottom theory of corporate law, proposed by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means in The Modern Corporation and Private Property (1932), that state corporate law, and lack of federal standards, enabled a race to the bottom in corporate law rules, or one of "laxity". Brandeis also expounded on evidence that the Great Depression was caused by disparities of income and wealth brought about by the corporation, which he likened to Frankenstein's monster.

Federal court system
Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i.e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.

The Judiciary Act of 1891 created the United States Courts of Appeals and reassigned the jurisdiction of most routine appeals from the district and circuit courts to these appellate courts. The Act created nine new courts that were originally known as the "United States Circuit Courts of Appeals." The new courts had jurisdiction over most appeals of lower court decisions. The Supreme Court could review either legal issues that a court of appeals certified or decisions of court of appeals by writ of certiorari. On January 1, 1912, the effective date of the Judicial Code of 1911, the old Circuit Courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. District Courts.

List of cases in volume 288 U.S.

 * [a] VanDevanter took no part in the case
 * [b] Roberts took no part in the case
 * [c] Hughes took no part in the case