Hillside Dairy Inc., A&a Dairy, L&S Dairy, and Milky Way Farms v. William J. Lyons, JR., Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture, et al. (539 U.S. 59)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 9, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 539 U.S. 59 · 123 S. Ct. 2142
- Decided
- June 9, 2003
- Term
- October Term 2002
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. In most of the United States, not including California, the minimum price paid to dairy farmers producing raw milk is regulated pursuant to federal marketing orders. Those orders guarantee a uniform price for the producers, but through pooling mechanisms require the processors of different classes of dairy products to pay different prices. Thus, for example, processors of fluid milk pay a premium price, part of which goes into an equalization pool that provides a partial subsidy for cheese manufacturers who pay a net price that is lower than the farmers receive. See West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U. S. 186, 189, n. 1 (1994). The California Legislature has adopted a similar program to regulate the minimum prices paid by California processors to California producers. In the cases before us today, out-of-state producers are challenging the constitutionality of a 1997 amendment to that program. They present us with two questions: (1) whether § 144 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, 110 Stat. 917, 7 U. S. C. § 7254, exempts California’s milk pricing and pooling regulations from scrutiny under the Commerce Clause; and (2) whether the individual petitioners’ claim under the Privileges and Immunities Clause is foreclosed because those regulations do not discriminate on their face on the basis of…
Excerpt of a 12,543-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.