Hillsborough County v. Automated Medical Laboratories, Inc.
United States Supreme Court
471 U.S. 707 (1985)
Facts
Hillsborough County, Florida (plaintiff) passed several local ordinances related to the collection of blood plasma from paid donors. Specifically, these ordinances required that donors be tested for hepatitis, donate at only one center, and be given a breath analysis for alcohol content before each donation. Hillsborough sued Automated Medical Laboratories, Inc. (defendant) for violating these ordinances. The district court ruled in Hillsborough’s favor, and Automated appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Automated argued that the Public Health Service Act preempted the field of blood donation, so any local ordinance was invalid. The appeals court ruled in Automated’s favor, and Hillsborough appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Marshall, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 710,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,600 briefs, keyed to 983 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
