1970 United States Supreme Court case
Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. , 397 U.S. 137 (1970), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that power of states to pass laws interfering with interstate commerce is limited when the law poses an undue burden on businesses.[ 3]
An Arizona statute required that Arizona-grown cantaloupes advertise their state of origin on each package. Bruce Church, Inc. was an Arizona grower of high quality cantaloupes. Instead of packing them in Arizona, it transported them to nearby California facilities, where they were not labeled as grown in Arizona.[ 3]
Arizona issued an order prohibiting Church from shipping uncrated cantaloupes from the Arizona ranch, and requiring that the cantaloupes be packed in Arizona and identified as coming from an Arizona packer. This would have cost Church $200,000 to pack a $700,000 crop.[ 3]
The company then brought a suit in federal court to stop Arizona from enforcing the order prohibiting Church from shipping the cantaloupes.
Opinion of the Court [ edit ] State statutes that have a negative effect on interstate commerce are unconstitutional under the Dormant Commerce Clause . Justice Stewart used a balancing test.
Where the statute regulates evenhandedly to effectuate a legitimate local public interest, and its effects on interstate commerce are only incidental, it will be upheld unless the burden imposed on such commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits. If a legitimate local purpose is found, then the question becomes one of degree. And the extent of the burden that will be tolerated will, of course, depend on the nature of the local interest involved, and on whether it could be promoted as well with a lesser impact on interstate activities.[ 3]
Applying this test to the Arizona statute, the court found it imposed too great of a burden to justify its benefits.[ 3]
Dormant Commerce Clause Brown v. Maryland (1827) Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co. (1829) Cooley v. Board of Wardens (1852) Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois (1886) Swift & Co. v. United States (1905) George W. Bush & Sons Co. v. Malloy (1925) Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc. (1935) Edwards v. California (1941) Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona (1945) Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison (1951) Miller Bros. Co. v. Maryland (1954) Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc. (1959) National Bellas Hess v. Illinois (1967) Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. (1970) Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp. (1976) Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady (1977) Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission (1977) City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey (1978) Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland (1978) Reeves, Inc. v. Stake (1980) Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. (1981) Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas (1982) White v. Mass. Council of Construction Employers (1983) South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke (1984) Maine v. Taylor (1986) Healy v. Beer Institute, Inc. (1989) Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992) Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt (1992) Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Oregon (1994) C&A Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown (1994) West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy (1994) Granholm v. Heald (2005) United Haulers Ass'n v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority (2007) Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis (2008) Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne (2015) South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (2018) Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas (2019) National Pork Producers Council v. Ross (2023) Others
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