Chermack v. Bjornson
| Decision Date | 22 November 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 44730,44730 |
| Citation | 223 N.W.2d 659,302 Minn. 213 |
| Parties | Wayne R. CHERMACK, Appellant, v. K. Valdimar BJORNSON, a.k.a. Val Bjornson, Minnesota State Treasurer, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Wayne R. Chermack, pro se.
Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Jonathan H. Morgan, Sol. Gen., Kenneth E. Raschke, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for respondents.
Heard before OTIS, PETERSON, and SCOTT, JJ., and considered and decided by the court en banc.
This is an appeal from an order of the District Court of Ramsey County dismissing an action 'with prejudice' on the basis that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
Plaintiff-appellant seeks relief, on appeal, on the basis of errors of law and fact. We affirm.
On June 22, 1973, plaintiff presented to the state treasurer for payment his Minnesota state income tax refund warrant. He demanded that the amount of the refund, $1,035.52, be tendered in gold and silver coin, under Article I, § 10, of the United States Constitution, which provides, in part: 'No state shall * * * make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts * * *.' This demand was not satisfied, and he sought declaratory relief.
The issue before this court is whether or not defendants, the state treasurer and auditor, are constitutionally required to tender payment to plaintiff in gold or silver coin.
Article I, § 10, of the United States Constitution is a constitutional limitation upon the power of the states and not on the powers of Congress. Under Article I, § 8, of the United States Constitution, the power of Congress to establish a uniform legal tender and prohibit all other forms of currency exchange has been long established. In Norman v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 294 U.S. 240, 303, 55 S.Ct. 407, 414, 79 L.Ed. 885, 900, 95 A.L.R. 1352, 1366 (1935), the Supreme Court stated:
'* * * The broad and comprehensive national authority over the subjects of revenue, finance, and currency is derived from the aggregate of the powers granted to the Congress, embracing the powers to lay and collect taxes, to borrow money, to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standards of weights and measures, and the added express power 'to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution' the other enumerated powers. * * * ...
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