Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf
Page Number: 12.0

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

uniform  rule,  operating  equally  on  the  commerce  of  the
United  States,”  and  those  that  “deman[d]  th[e]  diversity, 
which  alone  can  meet  . . .  local  necessities.”  Id.,  at  319. 
Though  considerable  uncertainties  were  yet  to  be  over­
come,  these  precedents  still  laid  the  groundwork  for  the 
analytical  framework  that  now  prevails  for  Commerce 
Clause cases. 

This  Court’s  doctrine  has  developed  further  with  time.
Modern precedents rest upon two  primary  principles that 
mark  the  boundaries  of  a  State’s  authority  to  regulate
interstate  commerce.  First,  state  regulations  may  not
discriminate  against  interstate  commerce;  and  second, 
States  may  not  impose  undue  burdens  on  interstate  com­
merce.  State  laws  that  discriminate  against  interstate
commerce  face  “a  virtually  per se  rule  of  invalidity.” 
Granholm  v.  Heald,  544  U. S.  460,  476  (2005)  (internal
quotation  marks  omitted).    State  laws  that  “regulat[e] 
even-handedly to effectuate a legitimate local public inter­
est . . . will be upheld unless the burden imposed on such
commerce  is  clearly  excessive  in  relation  to  the  putative 
local benefits.”  Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137, 
142  (1970);  see  also  Southern  Pacific,  supra,  at  779.    Al-
though  subject  to  exceptions  and  variations,  see,  e.g., 
Hughes  v.  Alexandria  Scrap  Corp.,  426  U. S.  794  (1976); 
Brown-Forman  Distillers  Corp.  v.  New  York  State  Liquor 
Authority, 476 U. S. 573 (1986), these two principles guide
the  courts  in  adjudicating  cases  challenging  state  laws
under the Commerce Clause. 

B 
These  principles  also  animate  the  Court’s  Commerce
Clause  precedents  addressing  the  validity  of  state  taxes. 
The Court explained the now-accepted framework for state
taxation in Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U. S. 
274  (1977).  The  Court  held  that  a  State  “may  tax  exclu­
sively  interstate  commerce  so  long  as  the  tax  does  not