West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy
United States Supreme Court
512 U.S. 186, 114 S. Ct. 2205, 129 L. Ed. 2d 157 (1994)
- Written by Megan Petersen, JD
Facts
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Massachusetts dairy farms began to lose their share of the overall dairy market due to lower prices of their competitor producers in other states. In response to the downsizing of the Massachusetts dairy market, the state created a special commission to investigate solutions to this problem. Healy (defendant), head of the special commission, recommended that Massachusetts impose a tax on all fluid milk sold to Massachusetts retailers by dealers. The tax would then be used to subsidize the efforts of Massachusetts’s dairy farmers to help them compete in the national milk market. West Lynn Creamery, Inc. (plaintiff), an out-of-state milk dealer, was taxed. West Lynn Creamery challenged the Massachusetts statute in superior court on the grounds that it impermissibly discriminated against interstate commerce. The court denied relief, and the state supreme court affirmed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stevens, J.)
Concurrence (Scalia, J.)
Dissent (Rehnquist, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 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.
