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GULF OIL CORP. V. COPP PAVING CO., INC., 419 U. S. 186 - Volume 419 - 1974 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 419 > GULF OIL CORP. V. COPP PAVING CO., INC., 419 U. S. 186 (1974) > Full Text
This case concerns the jurisdictional requirements of § 2(a) of the Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, 49 Stat. 1526, [Footnote 1] 15 U.S.C. § 13(a), and of §§ 3 and 7 of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 731, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 14 and 18. It presents the questions whether a firm engaged in entirely intrastate sales of asphaltic concrete, a product that can be marketed only locally, is a corporation "in commerce" within the meaning of each of these sections, and whether such sales are "in commerce" and "in the course of such commerce" within the meaning of §§ 2(a) and 3 respectively. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held these jurisdictional requirements satisfied, without more, by the fact that sales of asphaltic concrete are made for use in construction of interstate highways. 487 F.2d 202 (1973). We reverse.
Respondents Copp Paving Co., Inc., Copp Equipment Co., Inc., and Ernest A. Copp, [Footnote 1a] operate a hot plant in Artesia, Cal., where they produce asphaltic concrete both for Copp's own use as a paving contractor and for sale to other contractors. Copp's operations and asphaltic concrete sales are limited to the southern half of Los Angeles County, where it competes with Sully-Miller and Industrial in the asphaltic concrete market. All three firms sell a more than de minimis share of their asphaltic concrete for use in the construction of local segments of the interstate highway system. Neither Copp, Industrial, nor Sully-Miller makes any interstate sales of the product. [Footnote 2]
Copp filed this complaint in the District Court for the Central District of California against the oil companies, Sully-Miller, and Industrial, seeking injunctive relief and treble damages. [Footnote 3] The complaint, as amended, alleged that the various defendants had committed a catalog of antitrust violations with respect to both the asphalt oil and asphaltic concrete markets. Claiming harm to itself as a consumer of liquid asphalt, Copp alleged: that the defendants had fixed prices and allocated the asphalt oil market geographically, in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 1; that they had sold liquid asphalt at discriminatory prices to Copp and other purchasers, in violation of § 2(a) of the Robinson-Patman Act; and that Gulf Oil had violated § 7 of the Clayton Act by acquiring Industrial. Also claiming harm to itself as a competitor in the asphaltic concrete market, Copp further alleged: that the defendants had fixed prices, divided the market geographically, and employed various methods of monopolizing and attempting to gain a monopoly in the Los Angeles area market, in violation of §§ 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act; that, in violation of § 3 of the Clayton Act, Industrial and Sully-Miller had conditioned sales of asphaltic concrete in areas where Copp did not compete on customers' agreeing to buy only from the defendants in areas where Copp did compete, and had "tied" sales of asphaltic concrete to sales of other commodities and to favorable extensions of credit; that, in violation of § 7 of the Clayton Act, Gulf Oil had acquired Industrial and Union Oil had acquired Sully-Miller, these acquisitions apparently having the effect of lessening competition in the Los Angeles asphaltic concrete market; and, finally, that Industrial and Sully-Miller had discriminated in the prices at which they sold asphaltic concrete, charging
Because of the liquid asphalt claims, the case was one of the Western Liquid Asphalt cases transferred, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, to the District Court for the Northern District of California for coordinated pretrial proceedings. [Footnote 4] The defendants thereafter moved for summary judgment in favor of Sully-Miller, against which Copp had alleged only violations arising from conduct in the asphaltic concrete market. The motion also sought to limit the issues as to the other defendants to those involving liquid asphalt.
In its opinion accompanying this order, the court explicitly discussed only the jurisdictional requirements of the Sherman Act. [Footnote 5] On the facts presented to it, the court found that asphaltic concrete is made wholly from components produced and purchased intrastate, and that
487 F.2d at 204. Having so concluded, the court held that jurisdiction properly attached to Copp's Clayton and Robinson-Patman Act claims as well, since those Acts were intended to supplement the purpose and effect of the Sherman Act. Id. at 205-206. [Footnote 6]
proper interpretation of the jurisdictional reach of the antitrust laws, and because of ostensible conflicts with decisions of other circuits. [Footnote 7] We limited the grant, however, to the questions arising under the Clayton and Robinson-Patman Acts. [Footnote 8] 415 U.S. 988 (1974).
The text of each of the statutory provisions involved here is set forth in the margin. [Footnote 9] In brief, § 2(a) of the
United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Assn., 322 U. S. 533, 322 U. S. 558 (1944). Consistently with this purpose and with the plain thrust of the statutory language, the Court has held that, however local its immediate object, a "contract, combination . . . or conspiracy" nonetheless may constitute a restraint within the meaning of § 1 if it substantially and adversely affects interstate commerce. E.g., Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U. S. 219, 334 U. S. 234 (1948). "If it is interstate commerce that feels the pinch, it does not matter how local the operation which applies the squeeze." United States v. Women's Sportswear Mfrs. Assn., 336 U. S. 460, 336 U. S. 464 (1949).
markets. Cf. United States v. Philadelphia National Bank, 374 U. S. 321, 374 U. S. 336 n. 12 (1963). Nor does it contend that the local market in asphaltic concrete is an integral part of the interstate market in other component commodities or products. Instead, Copp's "in commerce" argument turns entirely on the use of asphaltic concrete in the construction of interstate highways.
In support of this argument, Copp relies primarily on cases decided under the Fair Labor Standards Act. [Footnote 10] In the first of these, Overstreet v. North Shore Corp., 318 U. S. 125 (1943), the Court held that, because interstate roads and railroads are indispensable instrumentalities of interstate commerce, employees engaged in the construction or repair of such roads are employees "in commerce" to whom, by its terms, the Fair Labor Standards Act extends. Subsequently in Alstate Construction Co. v. Durkin, 345 U. S. 13 (1953), the Court held that, since interstate highways are instrumentalities of commerce, employees engaged in the manufacture of materials used in their construction are properly deemed to be engaged "in the production of goods for commerce," within the meaning of that phrase in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Copp reasons that, since the connection between manufacture of road materials and interstate commerce was enough for application of the Fair Labor Standards Act, it also should be sufficient to warrant invocation of the Clayton and Robinson-Patman Act provisions against sellers and sales of such materials.
such activities sufficiently implicate interstate commerce. [Footnote 11] The question, rather, is how far Congress intended to extend its mandate under the Clayton and Robinson-Patman Acts. [Footnote 12] The answer depends on the statutory language, read in light of its purposes and legislative history. See FTC v. Bunte Bros., 312 U. S. 349 (1941).
Congress has deemed interstate highways critical to the national economy and has authorized extensive federal participation in their financing and regulation. Nothing, however, in the Federal-Aid Highway Act [Footnote 13] or other legislation evinces an intention to apply the full range of antitrust laws to persons who, as part of their local business, supply materials used in construction of local segments of interstate roads. Nor does the fact that interstate highways are instrumentalities of commerce somehow render the suppliers of materials instrumentalities of commerce as well, in the sense used in Overstreet. No different conclusion can be drawn from Alstate. The statute involved there explicitly reached persons employed "in the production of goods for commerce." Congress could and, according to the Court in Alstate, did find that the federal concerns embodied in the Fair Labor Standards Act required its application to employees producing
Copp's "in commerce" argument rests essentially on a purely formal "nexus" to commerce: the highways are instrumentalities of interstate commerce; therefore any conduct of petitioners with respect to an ingredient of a highway is per se "in commerce." Copp thus would have us expand the concept of the flow of commerce by incorporating categories of activities that are perceptibly connected to its instrumentalities. But whatever merit this categorical "inclusion and exclusion" approach may have when dealing with the language and purposes of other regulatory enactments, it does not carry over to the context of the Robinson-Patman and Clayton Acts. The chain of connection has no logical endpoint. The universe of arguably included activities would be broad and its limits nebulous in the extreme. See Alstate Construction Co. v. Durkin, supra, at 345 U. S. 17-18 (DOUGLAS, J., dissenting). More importantly, to the extent that those limits could be defined at all, the definition would in no way be anchored in the economic realities of interstate markets, the intensely practical concerns that, underlie the purposes of the antitrust laws. See United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 332 U. S. 218, 332 U. S. 231 (1947).
discriminate in price between different purchasers . . . where . . . such discrimination may substantially lessen competition. . . . [Footnote 14]"
The Conference Committee, however, deleted this "effects on commerce" provision, leaving only the "in commerce" language of § 2(a). [Footnote 15] Whether Congress took this action because it wanted to reach only price discrimination in interstate markets or because of its then understanding of the reach of the commerce power, [Footnote 16] its action strongly militates against a judgment that Congress intended a result that it expressly declined to enact. Moreover, even if the legislative history were ambiguous, the courts in nearly four decades of litigation have interpreted the statute in a manner directly contrary to an "effects on commerce" approach. With almost perfect consistency, the Courts of Appeals have read the language requiring that "either or any of the purchases involved in such discrimination [be] in commerce" to mean that § 2(a) applies only where "at least one of the two transactions which, when compared, generate a discrimination . . . cross[es] a state line.'" [Footnote 17] In the face of this longstanding
With respect to §§ 3 and 7 of the Clayton Act, the situation is not so clear. Both provisions were intended to complement the Sherman Act and to facilitate achievement of its purposes by reaching, in their incipiency, acts and practices that promise, in their full growth, to impair competition in interstate commerce. E.g., United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U. S. 586, 353 U. S. 589 (1957); Standard Fashion Co. v. Magrane-Houston Co., 258 U. S. 346 (1922). The United States argues in its amicus brief that, given this purpose, the "in commerce" language of 3 and 7 should be seen as no more than a historical anomaly. When these sections were originally enacted, it was thought that Congress' Commerce Clause power reached only those subjects within the flow of commerce, then defined rather narrowly by the Court. Thus, it is argued, the "in commerce" language was thought to be coextensive with the reach of the Commerce Clause and to bring within the ambit of the Act all activities over which Congress could exercise its constitutional authority. Since passage of the Act, this Court's decisions
have read Congress' power under the Commerce Clause more expansively, extending it beyond the flow of commerce to all activities having a substantial effect on interstate commerce. See Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U.S. at 334 U. S. 229-233. The United States concludes that the scope of the Clayton Act, like that of the Sherman Act, should be held to have expanded correspondingly, both because of Congress' clear intention to reach as far as it could and because Congress' purpose to foster competition in interstate commerce could not otherwise wholly be achieved.
This argument from the history and practical purposes of the Clayton Act is neither without force nor without at least a measure of support. [Footnote 18] But whether it would justify radical expansion of the Clayton Act's scope beyond that which the statutory language defines -- expansion, moreover, by judicial decision, rather than amendatory legislation -- is doubtful. In any event, this case does not present an occasion to decide the question. Even if the Clayton Act were held to extend to acquisitions and sales having substantial effects on commerce, a court cannot presume that such effects exist. The plaintiff must allege and prove that apparently local acts, in fact, have adverse consequences on interstate markets and the interstate flow of goods in order to invoke federal antitrust prohibitions. See United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 332 U.S. at 332 U. S. 230-234.
on the basis of the record before it, that petitioners' alleged antitrust violations had no "substantial impact on interstate commerce." [Footnote 19] There may be circumstances in which activities, like those of Sully-Miller and Industrial, would have such effects on commerce. On the record in this case, however, the conclusion of the District Court that no such circumstances existed here cannot be considered erroneous. This being so, the "effects on commerce" theory, even if legally correct, must fail for want of proof.
1972 CCH Trade Cases � 74,013
E.g., Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U. S. 241, 379 U. S. 249-258 (1964).
The jurisdictional inquiry under general prohibitions like these Acts and § 1 of the Sherman Act, turning as it does on the circumstances presented in each case and requiring a particularized judicial determination, differs significantly from that required when Congress itself has defined the specific persons and activities that affect commerce and therefore require federal regulation. Compare United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 332 U. S. 218, 332 U. S. 232-233 (1947), with, e.g., Perez v. United States, 402 U. S. 146 (1971); Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U. S. 183 (1968); and Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U. S. 294 (1964).
See Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 337 U. S. 293, 337 U. S. 314-315 (1949).
1972 CCH Trade Cases � 74-013, p. 92,208. Copp makes no specific objection here to the District Court's use of summary judgment procedure, see Brief for Respondents 11-12, nor to the form of the judgment. Moreover, there is no indication that Copp was foreclosed from presenting all available evidence concerning the interstate commerce issues, at least as to §§ 3 and 7. Cf. McBeath v. Inter-American Citizens for Decency Comm., 374 F.2d 359, 363 (CA5 1967). In any event, assuming that the interstate commerce requirements of §§ 3 and 7 are properly deemed issues of subject matter jurisdiction, rather than simply necessary elements of the federal claims, cf., e.g., United States v. Employing Plasterers Assn., 347 U. S. 186 (1954); Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U. S. 219 (1948); 5 J. Moore, Federal Practice 38.36[2.-2], p. 299 (2d ed.1974), there is, as the dissenting opinion by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS notes, an identity between the "jurisdictional" issues and certain issues on the merits, and hence, under Land v. Dollar, 330 U. S. 731 (1947), no objection to reserving the jurisdictional issues until a hearing on the merits. By the same token, however, there is no objection to use, in appropriate cases, of summary judgment procedure to determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact as to the interstate commerce elements.
I suppose it would be conceded that, if one person or company acquired all the asphaltic concrete plants in the United States, there might well be a violation of § 2 of the Sherman Act, which makes unlawful a monopoly of "any part of the trade or commerce among the several States." 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 2. Moreover, even though their sales were all intrastate, they would come within the ban of § 1 of the Sherman Act, if they substantially affected interstate commerce. For in the Sherman Act, we held, "Congress wanted to go to the utmost extent of its Constitutional power in restraining trust and monopoly agreements. . . ." United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Assn., 322 U. S. 533, 322 U. S. 558 (1944).
While the Clayton Act modified the Sherman Act by restricting possible application of the antitrust laws to labor unions, [Footnote 2/1] and by expanding the scope of those laws to cover the aggregation of economic power through stock acquisitions, [Footnote 2/2] there is not a word to suggest that
when Congress defined the term "commerce" it desired to contract the scope of that term. [Footnote 2/3] The legislative history does not furnish even a bare suggestion or inference that "commerce" under the Clayton Act meant something less than it meant under the Sherman Act. The Clayton Act became the law in 1914; and prior to that time the Court had held over and over again that acts or conduct wholly intrastate might be "in restraint of trade or commerce" as that phrase was used in the Sherman Act. Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U. S. 375, 196 U. S. 397 (1905); United States v. Patten, 226 U. S. 525, 226 U. S. 541-543 (1913). These holdings were reflected in the "affecting commerce" standard of the Shreveport Rate Cases, Houston Texas R. Co. v. United States, 234 U. S. 342, 234 U. S. 353-355 (1914). The primary definition of commerce, for Clayton Act purposes, is "trade or commerce among the several States." [Footnote 2/4] In the years just preceding passage of
that Act, this Court had held on several occasions that the phase "among the several States" embraces all commerce save that "which is confined to a single State and does not affect other States." Second Employers' Lability Cases, 223 U. S. 1, 223 U. S. 467 (1912) (emphasis added); The Minnesota Rate Cases, 230 U. S. 352, 230 U. S. 398-399 (1913). In applying the Clayton Act prohibitions to persons and corporations "engaged in commerce [among the several States]," Congress thus may reasonably be said to have intended to reach persons or corporations whose activities, while wholly intrastate in nature, affect other States through their effects on interstate commerce.
Sherman Act. [Footnote 2/5] See United States v. Penn-Olin Chemical Co., 378 U. S. 158, 378 U. S. 170-171 (1964); United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U. S. 586, 353 U. S. 589, 597 (1957); Standard Fashion Co. v. Magrane-Houston Co., 258 U. S. 346, 258 U. S. 355-356 (1922); S.Rep. No. 698, 63d Cong., 2d Sess., 1 (1914). And that is the way in which we assumed that the Celler-Kefauver Act in 1950, 64 Stat. 1125, 15 U.S.C. § 18, addressed itself to the problem. For we said in Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, 370 U. S. 294, 370 U. S. 315-323 (1962), that the legislative history showed congressional concern over the "desirability of retaining local control' over industry and the protection of small businesses." Id. at 370 U. S. 315-316. One dramatic way of leveling local business is pulling it into a vast interstate business regime of the nature alleged in this complaint.
I agree with the court below that jurisdiction may be sustained on an "in commerce" theory. [Footnote 2/6] Clayton Act § 3 and 7 apply to persons or corporations "engaged in commerce"; we have held, in a line of cases arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 52 Stat. 1060, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., that persons or enterprises engaged in building or repairing toll roads, bridges, and canal locks are "engaged in commerce," and therefore within the reach of the commerce power, by virtue of their relationship to indispensable instrumentalities of our system of interstate commerce. Mitchell v. Vollmer & Co., 349 U. S. 427 (1955); Fitzgerald Co. v. Pedersen, 324 U. S. 720 (1945); Overstreet v. North Shore Corp., 318 U. S. 125 (1943). It is true, as the majority notes, that the FLSA and the antitrust laws are different statutes, but the critical difference between the statutes arises in an area which in no way weakens the applicability of the FLSA cases to the present inquiry.
In the FLSA and in many other regulatory enactments, Congress itself has determined that certain classes of activities have a sufficient impact upon interstate commerce to warrant regulation of the entire class, regardless of whether an individual instance of the activity in question can be shown to be in or to affect commerce. See generally Perez v. United States, 402 U. S. 146, 402 U. S. 152-154 (1971); United States v. Darby, 312 U. S. 100, 312 U. S. 119-121
In the antitrust laws, Congress has provided a different sort of treatment. The Sherman Act broadly prohibits practices in restraint of trade or commerce, and the Clayton and Robinson-Patman Acts bar price discrimination, tie-ins, and corporate stock or assets acquisitions where "the effect of" such practices "may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce." The finding that a person or corporation is covered by these Acts does not trigger automatic application of the regulatory prohibition; instead, a court must go on to make an individualized determination of the actual or potential impact of that particular person's or corporation's activities on competition or on interstate commerce. [Footnote 2/7]
was one affecting interstate commerce." At the end of the time allotted for discovery, the District Court ruled that "the local activities of the defendants with regard to asphaltic concrete did not have a substantial impact on interstate commerce," and as respects one of the defendants (who is not a party in the case now before us) granted its motion for summary judgment. [Footnote 2/8]
The allegations and the complaint plainly gave the District Court jurisdiction. [Footnote 2/9] What a trial on the merits might
That could not possibly be said until at least the plaintiffs had offered their proof; yet, as the Court of Appeals said, the plaintiffs need not prove, on a motion that goes to the jurisdiction of the court, the merits of their case in order to obtain an opportunity to try it. [Footnote 2/10]
15 U.S.C. § 18; H.R.Rep. No 627, supra, at 17. See also United States v. Penn-Olin Chemical Co., 378 U. S. 158, 378 U. S. 170-171 (1964); United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U. S. 586, 353 U. S. 597 (1957).
Indeed, we would have to sit as a Committee of Revision over Congress, shaping the law to fit our prejudices against antitrust regulations, to hold that "in commerce" as used in the Clayton Act was intended to provide less comprehensive coverage than the language of the Sherman Act. Prior to passage of the Clayton Act, labor union practices had been held by this Court to affect commerce, and thus to fall within the reach of the Sherman Act, despite the fact that the union activities could not be regarded as being in the flow of commerce. Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 U. S. 274, 208 U. S. 300-301 (1908). See also Teamsters Local 167 v. United States, 291 U. S. 293, 291 U. S. 297 (1934); Apex Hosiery Co. v. Leader, 310 U. S. 469 (1940); United States v. Employing Plasterers Assn., 347 U. S. 186, 347 U. S. 189 (1954). If the Court is right today in saying that "in commerce" as used in the Clayton Act is to be read more restrictively than the Sherman Act, then those who drafted the Clayton Act (including Louis D. Brandeis) to protect labor were needlessly concerned -- no express exemption of labor would have been necessary, since the "in commerce" language of the Clayton Act (if narrowly read) would not have supported judicial attempts to reach labor activities on an "affecting commerce" theory. The drafters obviously thought otherwise.
Of course, in a limited range of Sherman Act cases, this Court has held that certain practices are per se violations of the antitrust laws; that is to say, these practices are conclusively presumed to be illegal without the need for any particularized inquiry into their effects. See generally White Motor Co. v. United States, 372 U. S. 253, 372 U. S. 259-262 (1963), and cases collected therein. These cases may be viewed as limited exceptions to the individualized approach described in the text above.
Federal Rule Civ.Proc. 56 "deals with the merits" of a claim and if in favor of the defendant is "in bar and not in abatement," 6 J. Moore, Federal Practice � 56.03, p. 2051 (2d ed.1974). Lack of jurisdiction of the court is a matter in abatement and thus is not usually appropriate for a summary judgment, which is not a substitute for a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction. Id. at 2052-2053.
The issue of whether there is subject matter jurisdiction raises the question whether the complaint, on its face, asserts a nonfrivolous claim "arising under" federal law. Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 369 U. S. 199-200 (1962); Bell v. Hood, 327 U. S. 678, 327 U. S. 682-683 (1946). If such a claim is stated, the District Court is then empowered to assume jurisdiction and to determine whether the claim is good or bad, on the basis of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim or cause of action. Romero v. International Terminal Operating Co., 358 U. S. 354, 358 U. S. 359 (1959); Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. v. Northwestern Public Service Co., 341 U. S. 246, 341 U. S. 249 (1951). Such a dismissal is on the merits, not for want of jurisdiction. Bell v. Hood, supra.
It is sometimes said that, where the district court's jurisdiction is challenged, that court has the power, either on its own motion or on motion of a party, to inquire into the facts as they exist for purposes of resolving the jurisdictional issue. Land v. Dollar, 330 U. S. 731, 330 U. S. 735 n. 4 (1947), and cases cited; Local 6, American Federation of Musicians v. Bonatz, 475 F.2d 433, 437 (CA3 1973). On the other hand, if the jurisdictional issue is closely intertwined with or dependent on the merits of the case, the preferred procedure is to proceed to a determination of the case on the merits. McBeath v. Inter-American Citizens for Decency Comm., 374 F.2d 359, 362-363 (CA5), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 896 (1967); Jaconski v. Avisun Corp., 359 F.2d 931, 935-936 (CA3 1966).
330 U.S. at 330 U. S. 735. This was true because if the plaintiffs prevailed on either of their theories on the merits (that the Commission was without authority to acquire the shares, or that the contract was simply a pledge of the shares, rather than an outright transfer), then they would also prevail on the jurisdictional issue. And in the McBeath case, supra, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a pretrial dismissal of a Sherman Act claim on grounds of lack of jurisdiction (for failure to show an effect on interstate commerce). Relying on Land v. Dollar, it held that the issue of effects on interstate commerce was so intertwined with the merits of the claim that it was error for the District Court to dismiss without giving the plaintiff a full chance to prove his case on the merits.
In cases such as United States v. Employing Plasterers Assn., 347 U. S. 186 (1954); Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U. S. 219 (1948); and United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 332 U. S. 218 (1947), this Court has reviewed "interstate commerce" issues in the context of dismissals of antitrust suits prior to trial on the merits. Those dismissals, however, were based, not upon motions for summary judgment or for dismissal for want of jurisdiction, but rather upon motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim. In such cases, of course, the allegations of the complaint must be taken as true. Id. at 332 U. S. 224. In the case now before us, the District Court clearly went beyond the face of the complaint and required respondents to produce proof of interstate effects.