1978 United States Supreme Court case
City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey |
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Argued March 27, 1978 Decided June 23, 1978 |
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Full case name | City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey |
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Citations | 437 U.S. 617 (more) 98 S. Ct. 2531; 57 L. Ed. 2d 475 |
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Case history |
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Prior | City of Philadelphia v. State, 376 A.2d 888 (N.J. 1977); probable jurisdiction noted, 434 U.S. 964 (1977). |
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Holding |
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A state may not prohibit or place barriers to articles of commerce entering or exiting its boundaries without express Congressional authorization or a compelling state interest; solid and liquid refuse and the rights to landfill space to dispose thereof are articles of commerce under the Commerce Clause. Supreme Court of New Jersey reversed. |
Court membership |
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- 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 |
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Majority | Stewart, joined by Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens |
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Dissent | Rehnquist, joined by Burger |
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Laws applied |
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U.S. Const. art. I § 8 cl. 3 (Commerce Clause), Dormant Commerce Clause, N.J. Waste Control Act, N.J. Stat. Ann. § 13 et seq |
City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978), 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.
Background
On account of its location wedged between New York City and Philadelphia (the two largest cities on the East Coast of the United States), New Jersey has long been a heavily industrialized state, frequently containing factories and other facilities for businesses centered in or servicing the major cities nearby; as well as in the state. Among the facilities developed in New Jersey was waste processing, including both toxic waste and regular municipal-waste landfills. Municipalities and businesses outside New Jersey made such extensive use of the state's waste-processing facilities that in 1973, the New Jersey Legislature passed a Waste Control Act (N.J.S.A. § 13 et seq.) prohibiting the importation of most "solid or liquid waste which originated or was collected outside the territorial limits of the State."
Subsequent to the passage of the Act, the City of Philadelphia, whose municipal waste was delivered in part to landfills and other waste-processing facilities in New Jersey, filed suit against the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in the Chancery Division of the New Jersey Superior Court, seeking an injunction against enforcement of the Waste Control Act on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The New Jersey Supreme Court, however, found that the law advanced vital health and environmental objectives with no economic discrimination against, and with little burden upon, interstate commerce. It therefore found it permissible under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Opinion of the Court
On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court found the New Jersey Waste Control Act unconstitutional because it violated the Dormant Commerce Clause and reversed the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision. 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.
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 from 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
References
External links
- Text of City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978) is available from: Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
Enumeration Clause of Section II |
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Qualifications Clauses of Sections II and III |
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Elections Clause of Section IV |
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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)
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Others | |
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Copyright Act of 1870 | |
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Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 | |
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International Copyright Act of 1891 | |
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Copyright Act of 1909 | |
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Patent misuse case law | |
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Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 | |
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Habeas corpus Suspension Clause of Section IX |
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No Bills of Attainder or Ex post facto Laws Clause of Section IX |
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Compact Clause of Section X |
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Supreme Court decisions | |
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Major federal legislation, treaties, and lower court decisions | - Yellowstone National Park Protection Act (1872)
- Forest Service Organic Administration Act (1897)
- Rivers and Harbors Act (1899)
- Lacey Act (1900)
- Weeks Act (1911)
- North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 (1911)
- Weeks–McLean Act (1913)
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918)
- Clarke–McNary Act (1924)
- Oil Pollution Act (1924)
- McSweeney-McNary Act (1928)
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (1934)
- Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (1954)
- Air Pollution Control Act (1955)
- Fish and Wildlife Act (1956)
- Oil Pollution Act (1961)
- Clean Air Act (1963, 1970, 1977, 1990)
- Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission (2nd Cir. Court of Appeals, 1965)
- Solid Waste Disposal Act (1965)
- Endangered Species Act (1969)
- Environmental Quality Improvement Act (1970)
- National Environmental Policy Act (1970)
- Clean Water Act (1972, 1977, 1987, 2014)
- Coastal Zone Management Act (1972)
- Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (1972)
- Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (1972)
- Noise Control Act (1972)
- Endangered Species Act (1973)
- Oil Pollution Act (1973)
- Safe Drinking Water Act (1974, 1986, 1996)
- Water Resources Development Act (1974, 1976, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2016, 2022)
- Federal Noxious Weed Act (1975)
- Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (1975)
- Magnuson–Stevens Act (1976)
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
- Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
- Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977)
- Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (1978)
- CERCLA (Superfund) (1980)
- Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (1986)
- Emergency Wetlands Resources Act (1986)
- Global Change Research Act (1990)
- National Environmental Education Act (1990)
- Oil Pollution Act (1990)
- Alien Species Prevention and Enforcement Act of 1992
- Food Quality Protection Act (1996)
- Energy Policy Act (2005)
- Energy Independence and Security Act (2007)
- Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc. v. EPA (D.C. Cir. Court of Appeals, 2012)
- Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (2016)
- America's Water Infrastructure Act (2018)
- Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021)
- Louisiana v. Biden (5th Cir. Court of Appeals, 2022)
- CHIPS and Science Act (2022)
- Inflation Reduction Act (2022)
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