Also known as: inter-state trade · interstate trading · interstate commerce
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Economic exchange of goods, services, or resources across state lines. Such activity falls within congressional authority to regulate under the commerce power and receives protection from state laws that discriminate against out-of-state participants.
Imani Idowu operates a baitfish harvesting business in State A. State A enacts a statute barring any export of live baitfish to out-of-state buyers in order to keep prices low for local anglers. When Imani attempts to sell to buyers in State B, state officials block the shipments. The prohibition is struck down as invalid economic protectionism.
Ideal Solutions collects solid waste generated inside City C. A city ordinance requires every load to be processed at a designated in-state facility before it may leave the municipality. Ideal Solutions seeks to ship waste directly to an out-of-state processor offering lower rates. The ordinance is invalidated as a protectionist barrier.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Infinity Bank finances nuclear waste disposal projects. Congress enacts a statute expressly permitting states to impose higher fees on out-of-state nuclear waste. State D adopts the authorized surcharge. The fee survives challenge because the federal statute removes the dormant commerce clause objection.
Imperial Motors, an out-of-state car dealer, sells vehicles in State E. Congress passes a statute allowing states to impose higher license taxes on out-of-state dealers. State E enacts the tax. The measure is upheld because the federal statute removes the commerce clause barrier.
Ian Iverson carries a firearm near a school while working at a local business. A federal statute criminalizes the possession. The statute is held invalid because the regulated conduct is non-economic and lacks a sufficient connection to interstate trade.
Ivy Investments manufactures a milk substitute in State F and ships it across state lines. A federal statute prohibits interstate shipment of the product. The prohibition is sustained because the activity constitutes interstate trade that Congress may regulate.
A state law violates the dormant commerce clause when it discriminates against out-of-state participants or erects protectionist barriers, such as export bans or forced in-state processing requirements. Courts invalidate such measures unless Congress has expressly authorized the discrimination.
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Congress may expressly permit states to discriminate against interstate trade in defined ways. When such authorization exists, otherwise unconstitutional state measures, including discriminatory taxes or surcharges, become valid.
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Lopez holds that Congress may not regulate non-economic intrastate activity lacking a substantial effect on interstate trade. The decision preserves a distinction between national economic matters and purely local conduct.
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Yes. The Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on interstate shipment of filled milk because the product moves in interstate trade and Congress may regulate such economic activity.
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…as a violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and as imposing a constitutionally prohibited burden on interstate commerce. The cause comes here on appeal under § 237 (a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U. S. C. § 344 (a), appellant assigning as error that the challenged statutes as applied infringe the due process…