direct burden on interstate commerce
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 273 U.S. 83 - Public Utilities Commission of Rhode Island v. Attleboro Steam & Electric Co · 1927Most cited · 412 citing opinions
The test of the validity of a state regulation is not the character of the general business of the company, but whether the particular business which is regulated is essentially local or national in character; and if the regulation places a direct burden upon its interstate business it is none the less beyond the power of the state because this may be the smaller part of its general business.
How the Supreme Court has restated “direct burden on interstate commerce”
Each Supreme Court definition of “direct burden on interstate commerce,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “direct burden on interstate commerce”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “direct burden on interstate commerce” — 1,016 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1913–1927
- ORIGINAL
It is settled that nothing which is a direct burden upon interstate commerce can be imposed by the state without the assent of Congress, and that the silence of Congress in respect to any matter of interstate commerce is equivalent to a declaration on its part that it should be absolutely free.
a state statute which by its necessary operation directly interferes with or burdens such commerce is a prohibited regulation and invalid, regardless of the purpose with which it was enacted