Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf
Page Number: 23

18 

SOUTH DAKOTA v. WAYFAIR, INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

conceded  that  Congress  has  the  authority  to  change  the
physical presence rule, Congress cannot change the consti­
tutional  default  rule.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  Court’s 
proper  role  to  ask  Congress  to  address  a  false  constitu­
tional  premise  of  this  Court’s  own  creation.    Courts  have 
acted as the front line of review in this limited sphere; and 
hence it is important that their principles be accurate and 
logical,  whether  or  not  Congress  can  or  will  act  in  re­
sponse.  It is  currently  the  Court,  and  not  Congress,  that
is limiting the lawful prerogatives of the States.

Further,  the  real  world  implementation  of  Commerce
Clause doctrines now makes it manifest that the physical 
presence  rule  as  defined  by  Quill  must  give  way  to  the 
“far-reaching  systemic  and  structural  changes  in  the 
economy” and “many other societal dimensions” caused by
the  Cyber  Age.    Direct  Marketing,  575  U. S.,  at  ___ 
(KENNEDY,  J.,  concurring)  (slip  op.,  at  3).    Though  Quill 
was wrong on its own terms when it was decided in 1992,
since  then  the  Internet  revolution  has  made  its  earlier 
error all the more egregious and harmful.

The Quill Court did not have before it the present reali­
ties  of  the  interstate  marketplace.  In  1992,  less  than  2 
percent  of  Americans  had  Internet  access.  See  Brief  for 
Retail  Litigation  Center,  Inc.,  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  11, 
and n. 10.  Today that number is about 89 percent.  Ibid., 
and n. 11.  When it decided Quill, the Court could not have 
envisioned  a  world  in  which  the  world’s  largest  retailer 
would be a remote seller, S. Li, Amazon Overtakes Wal-Mart 
as Biggest Retailer, L. A. Times, July 24, 2015, http://www.
latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-walmart-20150724­
story.html  (all  Internet  materials  as  last  visited  June  18, 
2018).

The  Internet’s  prevalence  and  power  have  changed  the 
dynamics  of  the  national  economy. 
In  1992,  mail-order 
sales in the United States totaled $180 billion.  504 U. S., 
at 329 (opinion of White, J.).  Last year, e-commerce retail