Cite as: 527 U. S. 423 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
brief were Solicitor General Waxman, Assistant Attorney General Argrett, Deputy Solicitor General Wallace, and David English Carmack.
Alan B. Morrison argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Irwin W. Stolz, Jr., Seaton D. Purdom, and David C. Vladeck.*
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.†
Jefferson County, Alabama, imposes an occupational tax on persons working within the county who are not otherwise required to pay a license fee under state law. The controversy before us stems from proceedings the county commenced to collect the tax from two federal judges who hold court in the county. Preliminarily, the parties dispute whether, as the federal judges assert, the collection proceedings may be removed to, and adjudicated in, federal court. On the merits, the judges maintain that they are shielded from payment of the tax by the intergovernmental tax immunity doctrine, while the county urges that the doctrine does not apply unless the tax discriminates against an officeholder because of the source of his pay or compensation.
We hold that the case was properly removed under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U. S. C. § 1442(a)(3), and that the Tax Injunction Act, § 1341, does not bar federal-court adjudication. We further conclude that Jefferson County's tax operates as a nondiscriminatory tax on the judges' compensation, to which the Public Salary Tax Act of 1939, 4 U. S. C. § 111, consents.
*Charles DuBose Cole filed a brief for Seven United States District Judges of the Northern District of Alabama as amici curiae urging affirmance.
†For the reasons stated in the opinion of Justice Scalia, The Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, Justice Souter, and Justice Thomas do not believe this case was properly removed from state court. The Court having concluded otherwise, they join Parts I, III, and IV of this opinion.
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