Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/340/349/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 00:28:58+00:00

Document:
Protecting the health and safety of residents does not allow a city to discriminate against interstate commerce if there are reasonable non-discriminatory alternatives that also can protect legitimate local interests.
Madison, Wisconsin prohibited the sale of pasteurized milk that had not been processed and bottled at an approved plant within five miles of the city. Dean Milk Co., which was based in Illinois, sold milk products in Illinois and Wisconsin. It maintained pasteurization plants that were 65 and 85 miles from Madison. The city did not allow it to sell its milk products as pasteurized there, however, for the sole reason that it had failed to comply with the geographical requirement in the ordinance.
The ordinance openly undermines interstate commerce because it is an effort to protect a local industry from competitors outside the area. There are plenty of adequate alternatives that the city reasonably could use to safeguard the health and safety of its residents. For example, it could send inspectors to observe the processes at the distant plants, or it could lawfully prevent milk from being sold in the city that did not meet the standards enforced at its plants. The city could base such a rule on the local ratings provided by the U.S. Public Health Service. Cities and states are not allowed to economically isolate themselves from the rest of the nation.
Decided under the dormant Commerce Clause doctrine, this decision examined whether the city had a less restrictive alternative available. Importantly, the law also discriminated against other milk from Wisconsin, so its tightly exclusionary effect placed an especially substantial burden on interstate commerce, and the limited numbers of actors that were benefited by it did not justify that burden.
Held: The ordinance unjustifiably discriminates against interstate commerce, in violation of the Commerce Clause of the Federal Constitution. Pp. 340 U. S. 350-357.
(a) Even in the exercise of its unquestioned power to protect the health and safety of its people, a municipality may not erect an economic barrier protecting a major local industry against competition from without the state if reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives, adequate to conserve legitimate local interests, are available. P. 340 U. S. 354.
(b) In view of the reasonable and adequate alternatives which are available for the protection of the health and safety of the people of the municipality, the discrimination against interstate commerce inherent in the ordinance violates the Commerce Clause. Pp. 340 U. S. 354-356.
Held: as to the issue thus presented, the cause is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with the principles announced in the opinion of this Court. Pp. 340 U. S. 350-351, 340 U. S. 356-357.
257 Wis. 308, 43 N.W.2d 480, reversed.
over appellant's objections to its validity under the Federal Constitution. 257 Wis. 308, 43 N.W.2d 480. On appeal to this Court, reversed and remanded, p. 340 U. S. 357.
Appellant is an Illinois corporation engaged in distributing milk and milk products in Illinois and Wisconsin. It contended below, as it does here, that both the five-mile limit on pasteurization plants and the twenty-five-mile limit on sources of milk violate the Commerce Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld the five-mile limit on pasteurization. [Footnote 3] As to the twenty-five-mile limitation the court ordered the complaint dismissed for want of a justiciable controversy. 257 Wis. 308, 43 N.W.2d 480 (1950). This appeal, contesting both rulings, invokes the jurisdiction of this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2).
raw milk production in excess of 600,000,000 pounds annually and more than ten times the requirements of Madison. Aside from the milk supplied to Madison, fluid milk produced in the county moves in large quantities to Chicago and more distant consuming areas, and the remainder is used in making cheese, butter, and other products. At the time of trial, the Madison milkshed was not of "Grade A" quality by the standards recommended by the United States Public Health Service, and no milk labeled "Grade A" was distributed in Madison.
The area defined by the ordinance with respect to milk sources encompasses practically all of Dane County, and includes some 500 farms which supply milk for Madison. Within the five-mile area for pasteurization are plants of five processors, only three of which are engaged in the general wholesale and retail trade in Madison. Inspection of these farms and plants is scheduled once every thirty days, and is performed by two municipal inspectors, one of whom is full-time. The courts below found that the ordinance in question promotes convenient, economical, and efficient plant inspection.
It is conceded that the milk which appellant seeks to sell in Madison is supplied from farms and processed in plants licensed and inspected by public health authorities of Chicago, and is labeled "Grade A" under the Chicago ordinance, which adopts the rating standards recommended by the United States Public Health Service.
Both the Chicago and Madison ordinances, though not the sections of the latter here in issue, are largely patterned after the Model Milk Ordinance of the Public Health Service. However, Madison contends, and we assume, that, in some particulars, its ordinance is more rigorous than that of Chicago.
Upon these facts, we find it necessary to determine only the issue raised under the Commerce Clause, for we agree with appellant that the ordinance imposes an undue burden on interstate commerce.
This is not an instance in which an enactment falls because of federal legislation which, as a proper exercise of paramount national power over commerce, excludes measures which might otherwise be within the police power of the states. See Currin v. Wallace, 306 U. S. 1, 306 U. S. 12-13 (1939). There is no pertinent national regulation by the Congress, and statutes enacted for the District of Columbia indicate that Congress has recognized the appropriateness of local regulation of the sale of fluid milk. D.C.Code, 1940, §§ 33-301 et seq. It is not contended, however, that Congress has authorized the regulation before us.
"upon a consideration of all the relevant facts and circumstances, it appears that the matter is one which may appropriately be regulated in the interest of the safety, health and wellbeing of local communities. . . ."
may be affected. Milk Control Board v. Eisenberg Farm Products, 306 U. S. 346 (1939); see Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U. S. 511, 294 U. S. 524 (1935).
But this regulation, like the provision invalidated in Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., supra, in practical effect excludes from distribution in Madison wholesome milk produced and pasteurized in Illinois. "The importer . . . may keep his milk or drink it, but sell it he may not." Id. 294 U.S. at 294 U. S. 521. In thus erecting an economic barrier protecting a major local industry against competition from without the State, Madison plainly discriminates against interstate commerce. [Footnote 4] This it cannot do, even in the exercise of its unquestioned power to protect the health and safety of its people, if reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives, adequate to conserve legitimate local interests, are available. Cf. Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., supra, at 294 U. S. 524; Minnesota v. Barber, 136 U. S. 313, 136 U. S. 328 (1890). A different view, that the ordinance is valid simply because it professes to be a health measure, would mean that the Commerce Clause of itself imposes no limitations on state action other than those laid down by the Due Process Clause, save for the rare instance where a state artlessly discloses an avowed purpose to discriminate against interstate goods. Cf. H. P. Hood & Sons v. Du Mond, supra. Our issue, then, is whether the discrimination inherent in the Madison ordinance can be justified in view of the character of the local interests and the available methods of protecting them. Cf. Union Brokerage Co. v. Jensen, 322 U. S. 202, 322 U. S. 211 (1944).
determine the extent of enforcement of sanitary standards in the exporting area by verifying the accuracy of safety ratings of specific plants or of the milkshed in the distant jurisdiction through the United States Public Health Service, which routinely and on request spot checks the local ratings. The Commissioner testified that Madison consumers "would be safeguarded adequately" under either proposal, and that he had expressed no preference. The milk sanitarian of the Wisconsin State Board of Health testified that the State Health Department recommends the adoption of a provision based on the Model Ordinance. Both officials agreed that a local health officer would be justified in relying upon the evaluation by the Public Health Service of enforcement conditions in remote producing areas.
To permit Madison to adopt a regulation not essential for the protection of local health interests and placing a discriminatory burden on interstate commerce would invite a multiplication of preferential trade areas destructive of the very purpose of the Commerce Clause. Under the circumstances here presented, the regulation must yield to the principle that "one state, in its dealings with another, may not place itself in a position of economic isolation." Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., supra, at 294 U. S. 527.
For these reasons, we conclude that the judgment below sustaining the five-mile provision as to pasteurization must be reversed.
issue, therefore, we vacate the judgment below and remand for further proceedings not inconsistent with the principles announced in this opinion.
"It shall be unlawful for any person, association or corporation to sell, offer for sale or have in his or its possession with intent to sell or deliver in the City of Madison, any milk, cream or milk products as pasteurized unless the same shall have been pasteurized and bottled in the manner herein provided within a radius of five miles from the central portion of the City of Madison otherwise known as the Capitol Square at a plant housing the machinery, equipment and facilities, all of which shall have been approved by the Department of Public Health."
"It shall be unlawful for any person to bring into or receive into the City of Madison, Wisconsin, or its police jurisdiction, for sale, or to sell, or offer for sale therein, or to have in storage where milk or milk products are sold or served, any milk or milk product as defined in this ordinance from a source not possessing a permit from the Health Commissioner of the City of Madison, Wisconsin."
"Only a person who complies with the requirements of this ordinance shall be entitled to receive and retain such a permit."
"On the filing of an application for a permit with the Health Commissioner, he shall cause the source of supply named therein to be inspected, and shall cause all other necessary inspections and investigations to be made. The Department of Public Health shall not be obligated to inspect and issue permits to farms located beyond twenty-five (25) miles from the central portion of the City of Madison otherwise known as the Capitol Square. . . ."
In upholding § 7.21, note 1 supra, the court relied upon the principles announced by it in Dyer v. City Council of Beloit, 250 Wis. 613, 27 N.W.2d 733 (1947), judgment vacated, 333 U.S. 825 (1948).
It is immaterial that Wisconsin milk from outside the Madison area is subjected to the same proscription as that moving in interstate commerce. Cf. Brimmer v. Rebman, 138 U. S. 78, 138 U. S. 82-83 (1891).
"Milk and milk products from points beyond the limits of routine inspection of the city of ______ may not be sold in the city of ______, or its police jurisdiction, unless produced and/or pasteurized under provisions equivalent to the requirements of this ordinance; provided that the health officer shall satisfy himself that the health officer having jurisdiction over the production and processing is properly enforcing such provisions."
"It is suggested that the health officer approve milk or milk products from distant points without his inspection if they are produced and processed under regulations equivalent to those of this ordinance, and if the milk or milk products have been awarded by the State control agency a rating of 90 percent or more on the basis of the Public Health Service rating method."
inspection possible. While we are not bound by these findings, I do not understand the Court to overturn them. Therefore, the fact that § 7.21, like all health regulations, imposes some burden on trade does not mean that it "discriminates" against interstate commerce.
the power of the people to guard the purity of their daily diet of milk.
One of the Court's proposals is that Madison require milk processors to pay reasonable inspection fees at the milk supply "sources." Experience shows, however, that the fee method gives rise to prolonged litigation over the calculation and collection of the charges. E.g., Sprout v. City of South Bend, 277 U. S. 163; Capitol Greyhound Lines v. Brice, 339 U. S. 542. To throw local milk regulation into such a quagmire of uncertainty jeopardizes the admirable milk inspection systems in force in many municipalities. Moreover, nothing in the record before us indicates that the fee system might not be as costly to Dean as having its milk pasteurized in Madison. Surely the Court is not resolving this question by drawing on its "judicial knowledge" to supply information as to comparative costs, convenience, or effectiveness.
that the provisions are "minimum" standards only. The Model Ordinance does not provide for continuous investigation of all pasteurization plants, as does § 7.21 of the Madison ordinance. Under § 11, moreover, Madison would be required to depend on the Chicago inspection system, since Dean's plants, and the farms supplying them with raw milk, are located in the Chicago milkshed. But there is direct and positive evidence in the record that milk produced under Chicago standards did not meet the Madison requirements.
From what this record shows, and from what it fails to show, I do not think that either of the alternatives suggested by the Court would assure the people of Madison as pure a supply of milk as they receive under their own ordinance. On this record, I would uphold the Madison law. At the very least, however, I would not invalidate it without giving the parties a chance to present evidence and get findings on the ultimate issues the Court thinks crucial -- namely, the relative merits of the Madison ordinance and the alternatives suggested by the Court today.

References: § 1257
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