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Page Number: 44.0

4 

NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Opinion of ROBERTS, C. J. 

state’s interest in committing the emotionally disturbed un-
der a particular standard of proof.”).  Here too, a majority
of  the  Court  agrees  that  it  is  possible  to  balance  benefits 
and burdens under the approach set forth in Pike.  See ante, 
at 2–3 (opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J.); post, at 1–2 (opinion of 
KAVANAUGH, J.). 

II 
This case comes before us on a Federal Rule of Civil Pro-
cedure 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, and in my view the court 
below erred in how it analyzed petitioners’ allegations un-
der Pike.  The Ninth Circuit reasoned that “[f]or dormant
Commerce Clause purposes, laws that increase compliance 
costs, without more, do not constitute a significant burden
on interstate commerce.”  6 F. 4th, at 1032.  The panel then 
dismissed petitioners’ claim under Pike by concluding that
the complaint alleged only an increase in compliance costs 
due to Proposition 12.  6 F. 4th, at 1033.  But, as I read it, 
the  complaint  alleges  more  than  simply  an  increase  in 
“compliance costs,” unless such costs are defined to include 
all the fallout from a challenged regulatory regime.  Peti-
tioners identify broader, market-wide consequences of com-
pliance—economic  harms  that  our  precedents  have  recog-
nized  can  amount  to  a  burden  on  interstate  commerce.  I 
would therefore find that petitioners have stated a substan-
tial  burden  against  interstate  commerce,  vacate  the  judg-
ment below, and remand this case for the Ninth Circuit to 
consider  whether  petitioners  have  plausibly  claimed  that
the burden alleged outweighs any “putative local interests” 
under Pike.  397 U. S., at 142. 

A 
Our precedents have long distinguished the costs of com-
plying  with  a  given  state  regulation  from  other  economic 
harms  to  the  interstate  market.  Bibb  v.  Navajo  Freight 
Lines, Inc., 359 U. S. 520 (1959), illustrates the point.  In