Court Opinion

ID: 9427045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:19:32.13854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:03.984992
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Blackmun,
with whom The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Brennan, and Mr. Justice Rehnquist join,
concurring.
I join the opinion of the Court, but I add these comments to emphasize the narrow scope of today’s decision.
First, the Court’s reliance on Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137 (1970), does not signal, for me, a new approach to review of state highway safety regulations under the Commerce Clause. Wisconsin argues that the Court previously has refused to balance safety considerations against burdens on interstate commerce., Brief for Appellees 8. This contention misreads Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, 359 U. S. 520 (1959), which recognized the Court’s responsibility to weigh the national interest in free-flowing commerce against “ 'slight or problematical’ ” safety interests. Id., at 524, quoting Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, 325 U. S. 761, 776 (1945).
Second, the reliance on Pike should not be read to equate the factual balance struck here with the balance established in Pike regarding the Arizona Fruit and Vegetable Standardization Act. Arizona prohibited interstate shipment of canta*449loupes not “packed in regular compact arrangement in closed standard containers.” 397 U. S., at 138, quoting Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 3-503C (Supp. 1969). Application of the prohibition to the appellee grower would have prevented it from processing its cantaloupes just across the state line in California, and would have required it to construct a packing facility in Arizona. The State attempted to justify this burden on interstate commerce solely by its interest “to promote and preserve the reputation of Arizona growers by prohibiting deceptive packaging.” 397 U. S., at 143. More specifically, Arizona wanted the appellee to package the cantaloupes in the State so that the high-quality fruit could be advertised as grown in Arizona rather than California. Although recognizing the legitimacy of the State’s interest, the Court refused to accord the concern much weight in the Commerce Clause balancing:
“[T]he State’s tenuous interest in having the company’s cantaloupes identified as originating in Arizona cannot constitutionally justify the requirement that the company build and operate an unneeded $200,000 packing plant in the State.” Id., at 145.
In short, despite the unchallenged existence and legitimacy of the State’s interest, the Court determined that the interest was not important enough to justify the burden on commerce.
Neither the Pike opinion nor today’s decision suggests that a similar balance would be struck when a State legitimately asserts the existence of a safety justification for a regulation. In Pike itself the Court noted that it did not confront “ 'state legislation in the field of safety where the propriety of local regulation has long been recognized.’ ” Id., at 143, quoting Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, 325 U. S., at 796 (Douglas, J., dissenting). In other words, if safety justifications are not illusory, the Court will not second-guess legislative judgment about their importance in comparison with related burdens on interstate commerce. I therefore join *450the opinion of the Court because its ultimate balancing does not depart from this principle, as stated in Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines:
“These safety measures carry a strong presumption of validity when challenged in court. If there are alternative ways of solving a problem, we do not sit to determine which of them is best suited to achieve a valid state objective. Policy decisions are for the state legislature, absent federal entry into the field.” 359 U. S., at 524.
Here, the Court does not engage in a balance of policies; it does not make a legislative choice. Instead, after searching the factual record developed by the parties, it concludes that the safety interests have not been shown to exist as a matter of law.
Third, the illusory nature of the safety interests in this case is illustrated not only by the overwhelming empirical data submitted by the appellants, but also by the State’s willingness to permit the use of oversized vehicles under the numerous administrative exceptions for in-state manufacturers and important Wisconsin industries. See ante, at 433-434, nn. 4-5, and 446-447. Prom 1973 through June 1975, the State issued 43,900 annual or general permits for the use of vehicles longer than 65 feet. Brief of Plaintiffs before the District Court in Case No. 75-C-172, App. C, 10-11. An additional 16,760 single-trip permits were granted during the same period. Id., at 11. Despite the alleged safety problems, the State regularly permitted the use of oversized vehicles merely to lower the cost of transportation for in-state industries. The bulkiness of the cargoes frequently did not justify the permits. See Deposition of Robert T. Huber, Chairman of the Wisconsin State Highway Commission, 7-9, 21; Deposition of Wayne Volk, Chief Traffic Engineer, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 31, 36, 49-50, 53. American Motors, one of the State’s largest employers, received permission to use oversized trucks on the 45-mile stretch of highway between Milwaukee *451and Kenosha, even though the State’s Chief Traffic Engineer conceded that the road was heavily traveled. Deposition of Wayne Yolk, supra, at 32. Furthermore, Stoughton Body Co., a Wisconsin manufacturer of trailers, received permits to pull oversized, double-trailer vehicles on a two-lane highway to facilitate out-of-state deliveries. Id., at 52-54. The record therefore suggests that the State in practice does not believe that oversized, double-trailer vehicles present a threat to highway safety.
Nineteen years after Bibb, then, the Court has been presented with another of those cases — “few in number” — in which highway safety regulations unconstitutionally burden interstate commerce. See 359 U. S., at 529. The contour-mudflaps law burdened the flow of commerce through Illinois in 1959 just as the length and configuration regulations burden the flow through Wisconsin today. It was shown that neither the mudflaps law nor the regulations contributed to highway safety. Giving the same legislative leeway to Wisconsin that the Court gave to Illinois, Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines requires reversal of the judgment of the District Court.