Opinion of Kavanaugh, J.
adopted in Philadelphia in 1787.[1]
II
Thus far, legal challenges to California’s Proposition 12 have focused on the Commerce Clause and this Court’s dormant Commerce Clause precedents.
Although the Court today rejects the plaintiffs’ dormant Commerce Clause challenge as insufficiently pled, state laws like Proposition 12 implicate not only the Commerce Clause, but also potentially several other constitutional provisions, including the Import-Export Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, and the Full Faith and Credit Clause.
First, the Import-Export Clause prohibits any State, absent “the Consent of the Congress,” from imposing “any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing” its “inspection Laws.” Art. I, §10, cl. 2. This Court has limited that Clause to imports from foreign countries. See Woodruff v. Parham, 8 Wall. 123, 133–136 (1869). As Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas have explained, that limitation may be mistaken as a matter of constitutional text and history: Properly interpreted, the Import-Export Clause may also prevent States “from imposing certain especially burdensome” taxes and duties on imports from other States—not just on imports from foreign countries. Comptroller of Treasury of Md. v. Wynne, 575 U. S. 542, 573 (2015) (Scalia, J., dissenting); see also Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U. S. 564, 621–637 (1997) (Thomas,
- ↑ The portions of Justice Gorsuch’s opinion that speak for only three Justices (Parts IV–B and IV–D) refer to The Chief Justice’s opinion as a “dissent.” Ante, at 18–21, 25–27. But on the question of whether to retain the Pike balancing test in cases like this one, The Chief Justice’s opinion reflects the majority view because six Justices agree to retain the Pike balancing test: The Chief Justice and Justices Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Jackson. On that legal issue, Justice Gorsuch’s opinion advances a minority view.
