Opinion ID: 223637
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Memorial has standing to raise a dormant Commerce Clause challenge

Text: Standing includes two components: Article III constitutional standing and prudential standing. See City of L.A. v. Cnty. of Kern, 581 F.3d 841, 845 (9th Cir.2009). The Department challenges only Memorial's prudential standing. [17] As relevant here, prudential standing requires that the plaintiff's complaint must `fall within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated by the statute or constitutional guarantee in question.' Individuals for Responsible Gov't, Inc. v. Washoe Cnty., 110 F.3d 699, 702-03 (9th Cir.1997) (quoting Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Ams. United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 474, 102 S.Ct. 752, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982)). The zone-of-interests test denies a right of review if the plaintiff's interests are ... marginally related to or inconsistent with the purposes implicit in the relevant constitutional provision. Id. at 703(quoting Wyoming v. Oklahoma, 502 U.S. 437, 469, 112 S.Ct. 789, 117 L.Ed.2d 1 (1992) (Scalia, J., dissenting)) (omission in original) (quotation marks and alteration omitted). Thus, we must first identify the purpose of the dormant Commerce Clause. The chief purpose underlying [the Commerce] Clause is to limit `the power of the States to erect barriers against interstate trade.' Washoe Cnty., 110 F.3d at 703(quoting Dennis v. Higgins, 498 U.S. 439, 446, 111 S.Ct. 865, 112 L.Ed.2d 969 (1991)). The intent is to promote a national market and the free flow of goods and services through the several states; it is the economic interest in being free from trade barriers that the clause protects. S.D. Myers, Inc. v. City & Cnty. of S.F., 253 F.3d 461, 471 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing C & A Carbone, 511 U.S. at 390, 114 S.Ct. 1677; On the Green Apartments L.L.C. v. City of Tacoma, 241 F.3d 1235, 1238 (9th Cir.2001)). The ultimate question, therefore, is whether Memorial's claims bear more than a marginal relationship to claims addressing a state or county's effort to erect barriers to interstate commerce. Cnty. of Kern, 581 F.3d at 847 (quotation marks omitted). As the name implies, the zone of interests test turns on the interest sought to be protected, not the harm suffered by the plaintiff. Id. at 848. Any alleged injury must somehow be tied to a barrier imposed on interstate commerce. Id. Here, the barrier to interstate commerce is the requirement of a certificate of need to offer elective PCI to all patients, instate or out-of-state. By virtue of the certificate of need requirement, the Department prevents Memorial from soliciting out-of-state patients and competing in an interstate market to offer elective PCI services, activities that clearly involve interstate commerce. See Summit Health, Ltd. v. Pinhas, 500 U.S. 322, 329-30, 111 S.Ct. 1842, 114 L.Ed.2d 366 (1991). Under Pike such incidental effects on interstate commerce are an unconstitutional barrier to trade if they are clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits. Pike, 397 U.S. at 142, 90 S.Ct. 844. The Department contends that Memorial lacks standing because it operates only an in-state hospital. The Commerce Clause, however, protects the vitality of the national market for goods and services, not the location of a particular participant, and thus a state burdens the rights of its own residents as well as those of other states when it burdens interstate commerce. Although the dormant Commerce Clause primarily targets discrimination against out-of-state economic activity, under Pike it prohibits all unjustifiable burdens on interstate commerce. See Kleenwell Biohazard Waste and Gen. Ecology Consultants, Inc. v. Nelson, 48 F.3d 391, 392, 398-99 (9th Cir.1995) (reviewing a facially neutral licensing regime under Pike where the plaintiff was an instate corporation with all of its facilities located within the state). Memorial's alleged injury is thus tied to an alleged violation of the dormant Commerce Clause. The district court correctly held that prudential standing is satisfied.