Barnett Bank of Marion County, N. A. v. Bill Nelson, Florida Insurance Commissioner, et al. (517 U.S. 25)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 26, 1996 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 517 U.S. 25 · 116 S. Ct. 1103
- Decided
- March 26, 1996
- Term
- October Term 1995
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.. The question in this case is whether a federal statute that permits national banks to sell insurance in small towns preempts a state statute that forbids them to do so. To answer this question, we must consider both ordinary pre-emption principles, and also a special federal anti-pre-emption rule, which provides that a federal statute will not pre-empt a state statute enacted “for the purpose of regulating the business of insurance” — unless the federal statute “specifically relates to the business of insurance” McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U. S. C. § 1012(b) (emphasis added). We decide that the McCarran-Ferguson Act’s special anti-pre-emption rule does not govern this case, because the federal statute in question “specifically relates to the business of insurance.” We conclude that, under ordinary pre-emption principles, the federal statute pre-empts the state statute, thereby prohibiting application of the state statute to prevent a national bank from selling insurance in a small town. I In 1916 Congress enacted a federal statute that says that certain national banks “may” sell insurance in small towns. It provides in relevant part: “In addition to the powers now vested by law in national [banks] organized under the laws of the United States any such [bank] located and doing business in any place [with a population] ... [of…
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