City of Spokane v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n

Congress created Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) to foster the secondary market for home mortgages. Fannie’s and Freddie’s statutory charters exempt them from all state and local taxation, except for taxes on the entities’ real *1115 property. In this appeal, we must decide whether the statutes exempt Fannie and Freddie from paying excise taxes on the transfer of real property and, if so, whether the statutory exemptions exceed Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause.

This lawsuit, brought by the City of Spokane, Washington, is part of a wave of similar lawsuits brought throughout the country against Fannie, Freddie, and their conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Several of those cases have made their way to the courts of appeals, and at least six of our sister circuits have now issued published decisions. Every circuit to address Spokane’s statutory and constitutional arguments has rejected them. See Town of Johnston v. Fed. Hous. Fin. Agency, 765 F.3d 80 (1st Cir.2014) (rejecting same statutory and constitutional arguments); Bd. of Comm’rs v. Fed. Hous. Fin.…