Maine v. Taylor & United States

477 U.S. 131 (1986)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
M
From our private database of 46,200+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Maine v. Taylor & United States

United States Supreme Court
477 U.S. 131 (1986)

Maine v. Taylor & United States

Facts

A Maine statute prohibited the importation of live baitfish from other states. Robert Taylor (defendant) owned a bait business in Maine and arranged to import 158,000 golden shiner minnows from other states to be sold in his Maine business in violation of the Maine statute. His shipment was intercepted and a federal grand jury indicted him for conspiring to import fish in violation of state law, a violation of the federal Lacey Act Amendments of 1981. Tayler moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the Maine statute was an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce and thus could not form the basis for a violation of federal law. Maine (plaintiff) intervened to defend the validity of its statute on the grounds that the ban legitimately protected the state’s minnow population from the introduction of new harmful parasites and nonnative species. The district court considering the case agreed with Maine that the prevention of harm to its native fish population by prohibiting the interstate commerce of nonnative fish was a legitimate state purpose. The district court upheld the constitutionality of the law, but the court of appeals reversed. Maine appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Blackmun, J.)

Dissent (Stevens, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 782,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 782,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 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.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 782,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,200 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Constitutional Law

Key Terms