Source: http://www.ecases.us/case/c109916/philadelphia-v-new-jersey/
Timestamp: 2019-10-17 20:57:52
Document Index: 318627055

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 13', '§ 3251', '§ 13', '§ 6901', '§ 6901', '§ 8']

Philadelphia v. New Jersey, United States Supreme Court, Supreme Court, Federal Courts, COURT CASE
Argued March 27, 1978. Decided June 23, 1978. APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY.
*618 Herbert F. Moore argued the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs was Arthur Meisel.
Stephen Skillman, Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey, argued the cause for appellees. With him on the brief were John J. Degnan, Attorney General, and Deborah Poritz and Nathan Edelstein, Deputy Attorneys General.[*]
"No person shall bring into this State any solid or liquid waste which originated or was collected outside the territorial limits of the State, except garbage to be fed to swine in the State of New Jersey, until the commissioner [of the State Department of Environmental Protection] shall determine that such action can be permitted without endangering the public health, safety and *619 welfare and has promulgated regulations permitting and regulating the treatment and disposal of such waste in this State." N. J. Stat. Ann. § 13:1I-10 (West Supp. 1978).[1]
Immediately affected by these developments were the operators of private landfills in New Jersey, and several cities in other States that had agreements with these operators for waste disposal. They brought suit against New Jersey and its Department of Environmental Protection in state court, attacking the statute and regulations on a number of state and federal grounds. In an oral opinion granting the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, the trial court declared the law unconstitutional because it discriminated against interstate commerce. The New Jersey Supreme Court consolidated this case with another reaching the same conclusion, *620 Hackensack Meadowlands Development Comm'n v. Municipal Sanitary Landfill Auth., 127 N. J. Super. 160, 316 A.2d 711, and reversed, 68 N. J. 451, 348 A.2d 505. It found that ch. 363 advanced vital health and environmental objectives with no economic discrimination against, and with little burden upon, interstate commerce, and that the law was therefore permissible under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The court also found no congressional intent to pre-empt ch. 363 by enacting in 1965 the Solid Waste Disposal Act, 79 Stat. 997, 42 U.S. C. § 3251 et seq., as amended by the Resource Recovery Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 1227.
The plaintiffs then appealed to this Court.[3] After noting probable jurisdiction, 425 U.S. 910, and hearing oral argument, we remanded for reconsideration of the appellants' preemption claim in light of the newly enacted Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2795. 430 U.S. 141. Again the New Jersey Supreme Court found no federal pre-emption of the state law, 73 N. J. 562, 376 A.2d 888, and again we noted probable jurisdiction, 434 U.S. 964. We agree with the New Jersey court that the state law has not been pre-empted by federal legislation.[4] The dispositive *621 question, therefore, is whether the law is constitutionally permissible in light of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.[5]
The state court reached this conclusion in an attempt to *622 reconcile modern Commerce Clause concepts with several old cases of this Court holding that States can prohibit the importation of some objects because they "are not legitimate subjects of trade and commerce." Bowman v. Chicago & Northwestern R. Co., 125 U.S. 465, 489. These articles include items "which, on account of their existing condition, would bring in and spread disease, pestilence, and death, such as rags or other substances infected with the germs of yellow fever or the virus of small-pox, or cattle or meat or other provisions that are diseased or decayed, or otherwise, from their condition and quality, unfit for human use or consumption." Ibid. See also Baldwin v. G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U.S. 511, 525, and cases cited therein. The state court found that ch. 363 as narrowed by the state regulations, see n. 2, supra, banned only "those wastes which can[not] be put to effective use," and therefore those wastes were not commerce at all, unless "the mere transportation and disposal of valueless waste between states constitutes interstate commerce within the meaning of the constitutional provision." 68 N. J., at 468, 348 A. 2d, at 514.
We think the state court misread our cases, and thus erred in assuming that they require a two-tiered definition of commerce. In saying that innately harmful articles "are not legitimate subjects of trade and commerce," the Bowman Court was stating its conclusion, not the starting point of its reasoning. All objects of interstate trade merit Commerce Clause protection; none is excluded by definition at the outset. In Bowman and similar cases, the Court held simply that because the articles' worth in interstate commerce was far outweighed by the dangers inhering in their very movement, States could prohibit their transportation across state lines. Hence, we reject the state court's suggestion that the banning of "valueless" out-of-state wastes by ch. 363 implicates no constitutional protection. Just as Congress has power to regulate the interstate movement of these wastes, States are *623 not free from constitutional scrutiny when they restrict that movement. Cf. Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp., 426 U.S. 794, 802-814; Meat Drivers v. United States, 371 U.S. 94.
Although the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate commerce among the States, many subjects of potential federal regulation under that power inevitably escape congressional attention "because of their local character and their number and diversity." South Carolina State Highway Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., Inc., 303 U.S. 177, 185. In the absence of federal legislation, these subjects are open to control by the States so long as they act within the restraints imposed by the Commerce Clause itself. See Raymond Motor Transportation, Inc. v. Rice, 434 U.S. 429, 440. The bounds of these restraints appear nowhere in the words of the Commerce Clause, but have emerged gradually in the decisions of this Court giving effect to its basic purpose. That broad purpose was well expressed by Mr. Justice Jackson in his opinion for the Court in H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 336 U.S. 525, 537-538:
The opinions of the Court through the years have reflected an alertness to the evils of "economic isolation" and protectionism, while at the same time recognizing that incidental *624 burdens on interstate commerce may be unavoidable when a State legislates to safeguard the health and safety of its people. Thus, where simple economic protectionism is effected by state legislation, a virtually per se rule of invalidity has been erected. See, e. g., H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc., v. Du Mond, supra; Toomer v. Witsell, 334 U.S. 385, 403-406; Baldwin v. G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., supra; Buck v. Kuykendall, 267 U.S. 307, 315-316. The clearest example of such legislation is a law that overtly blocks the flow of interstate commerce at a State's borders. Cf. Welton v. Missouri, 91 U.S. 275. But where other legislative objectives are credibly advanced and there is no patent discrimination against interstate trade, the Court has adopted a much more flexible approach, the general contours of which were outlined in Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137, 142:
See also Raymond Motor Transportation, Inc. v. Rice, supra, at 441-442; Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U.S. 333, 352-354; Great A&P Tea Co. v. Cottrell, 424 U.S. 366, 371-372.
The Court has consistently found parochial legislation of this kind to be constitutionally invalid, whether the ultimate aim of the legislation was to assure a steady supply of milk by erecting barriers to allegedly ruinous outside competition, Baldwin v. G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U. S., at 522-524; or to create jobs by keeping industry within the State, Foster-Fountain Packing Co. v. Haydel, 278 U.S. 1, 10; Johnson v. Haydel, 278 U.S. 16; Toomer v. Witsell, 334 U. S., at 403-404; or to preserve the State's financial resources from depletion by fencing out indigent immigrants, Edwards v. California, 314 U.S. 160, 173-174. In each of these cases, a presumably legitimate goal was sought to be achieved by the illegitimate means of isolating the State from the national economy.
Also relevant here are the Court's decisions holding that a State may not accord its own inhabitants a preferred right of access over consumers in other States to natural resources located within its borders. West v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 221 U.S. 229; Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U.S. 553. These cases stand for the basic principle that a "State is without power to prevent privately owned articles of trade from being shipped and sold in interstate commerce on the ground that they are required to satisfy local demands or because they are needed by the people of the State."[6]Foster-Fountain Packing Co. v. Haydel, supra, at 10.
It is true that certain quarantine laws have not been considered forbidden protectionist measures, even though they were directed against out-of-state commerce. See Asbell v. Kansas, 209 U.S. 251; Reid v. Colorado, 187 U.S. 137; Bowman v. Chicago & Northwestern R. Co., supra, at 489. But those quarantine laws banned the importation of articles such as diseased livestock that required destruction as soon *629 as possible because their very movement risked contagion and other evils. Those laws thus did not discriminate against interstate commerce as such, but simply prevented traffic in noxious articles, whatever their origin.
The Court recognizes, ante, at 621-622, that States can prohibit the importation of items "`which, on account of their existing condition, would bring in and spread disease, pestilence, and death, such as rags or other substances infected with the germs of yellow fever or the virus of small-pox, or cattle or meat or other provisions that are diseased or decayed, or otherwise, from their condition and quality, unfit for human use or consumption.'" Bowman v. Chicago & Northwestern R. Co., 125 U.S. 465, 489 (1888). See Baldwin v. G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U.S. 511, 525 (1935); Sligh v. Kirkwood, 237 U.S. 52, 59-60 (1915); Asbell v. Kansas, 209 U.S. 251 (1908); Railroad Co. v. Husen, 95 U.S. 465, 472 (1878). As the Court points out, such "quarantine laws have not been considered forbidden protectionist measures, even though they were directed against out-of-state commerce." Ante, at 628 (emphasis added).
The Supreme Court of New Jersey expressly found that ch. 363 was passed "to preserve the health of New Jersey residents by keeping their exposure to solid waste and landfill areas to a minimum." 68 N. J. 451, 473, 348 A.2d 505, 516. The Court points to absolutely no evidence that would contradict this finding by the New Jersey Supreme Court. Because I find no basis for distinguishing the laws under challenge here from our past cases upholding state laws that prohibit the importation of items that could endanger the population of the State, I dissent.
[1] New Jersey enacted a Waste Control Act, N. J. Stat. Ann. § 13:1I-1 et seq. (West Supp. 1978), in early 1973. This Act empowered the State Commissioner of Environmental Protection to promulgate rules banning the movement of solid waste into the State. Within a year, the state legislature enacted ch. 363, which reversed the presumption and blocked the importation of all categories of waste unless excepted by rules of the Commissioner.
[4] The surviving provisions of the 1965 Solid Waste Disposal Act, 79 Stat. 997, the Resource Discovery Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 1227, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2795, are now codified as the Solid Waste Disposal Act, found at 42 U.S. C. § 6901 et seq. (1976 ed.).
From our review of this federal legislation, we find no "clear and manifest purpose of Congress," Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, to pre-empt the entire field of interstate waste management or transportation, either by express statutory command, see Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 530-531, or by implicit legislative design, see City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal, 411 U.S. 624, 633. To the contrary, Congress expressly has provided that "the collection and disposal of solid wastes should continue to be primarily the function of State, regional, and local agencies . . . ." 42 U.S. C. § 6901 (a) (4) (1976 ed.). Similarly, ch. 363 is not pre-empted because of a square conflict with particular provisions of federal law or because of general incompatibility with basic federal objectives. See Ray v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 435 U.S. 151, 158; Jones v. Rath Packing Co., supra, at 540-541. In short, we agree with the New Jersey Supreme Court that ch. 363 can be enforced consistently with the program goals and the respective federal-state roles intended by Congress when it enacted the federal legislation.
[5] U. S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3.
[6] We express no opinion about New Jersey's power, consistent with the Commerce Clause, to restrict to state residents access to state-owned resources, compare Douglas v. Seacoast Products, Inc., 431 U.S. 265, 283-287, with id., at 287-290 (REHNQUIST, J., concurring and dissenting); Toomer v. Witsell, 334 U.S. 385, 404; or New Jersey's power to spend state funds solely on behalf of state residents and businesses, compare Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp., 426 U.S. 794, 805-810; id., at 815 (STEVENS, J., concurring), with id., at 817 (BRENNAN, J., dissenting). Also compare South Carolina State Highway Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., Inc., 303 U.S. 177, 187, with Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, 325 U.S. 761, 783.
DocketNumber： 77-404
Citation Numbers： 437 U.S. 617, 98 S. Ct. 2531, 57 L. Ed. 2d 475, 1978 U.S. LEXIS 37
Filed Date： 6/23/1978
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