City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey

Philadelphia v. New Jersey
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 27, 1978 Decided June 23, 1978
Full case name	City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey
Holding
States can not discriminate against another state's articles of commerce.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell, Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Stewart, joined by Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by Burger
Laws applied
U.S. Const. art. I § 8 cl. 3 (Commerce Clause), Dormant Commerce Clause

City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978)^[1], was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that states could not discriminate against another state's articles of commerce.

Court's Findings

The Court found a New Jersey law prohibiting the importation of most "solid or liquid waste which originated or was collected outside the territorial limits of the State" unconstitutional because it violated the Dormant Commerce Clause. In writing for the majority, Justice Stewart concluded that

"whatever New Jersey's ultimate purpose, it may not be accomplished by discriminating against articles of commerce coming from outside the State unless there is some reason, apart from their origin, to treat them differently."

In other words, New Jersey couldn't regulate beyond its borders.

Furthermore, the court held that legitimate local interests which had incidental interstate effects were within the state's general police powers, but "where simple economic protectionism is effected by state legislation, a virtually per se rule of invalidity has been erected". ^[1]

Dissent

Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justice Burger, maintained that the law was constitutional, on the basis of the validity of quarantine laws. Rehnquist reasoned that the toxic trash New Jersey handled from out-of-state was no different than diseased meat and germ-infected rags that were legally prohibited in quarantine laws.

"The physical fact of life that New Jersey must somehow dispose of its own noxious items does not mean that it must serve as a depository for those of every other state."

Because states can rightfully burden interstate commerce in the name of health and safety, Rehnquist found no hindrance to this law in the Commerce Clause.

See also

• Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt
• Environmental dumping
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 437

References

1. ^ Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617

External links

• ^ Text of City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978) is available from: Justia · Findlaw

• Summary of case from OYEZ