Polar Tankers, Inc. v. City of Valdez, Alaska (557 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 15, 2009 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 557 U.S. 1 · 129 S. Ct. 2277
- Decided
- June 15, 2009
- Term
- October Term 2008
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Constitutional ruling
- Local ordinance held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II-A, and II-B-1, and an opinion with respect to Part II-B-2, in which Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Ginsburg join. The Constitution forbids a “State ... without the Consent of Congress, [to] lay any Duty of Tonnage.” Art. I, § 10, cl. 3. The city of Valdez, Alaska, has enacted an ordinance that imposes a personal property tax upon the value of large ships that travel to and from that city. We hold that the ordinance violates the Clause. I In 1999, the city of Valdez, Alaska (City or Valdez), adopted an ordinance imposing a personal property tax upon “[bjoats and vessels of at least 95 feet in length” that regularly travel to the City, are kept or used within the City, or which annually take on at least $1 million worth of cargo or engage in other business transactions of comparable value in the City. Valdez Ordinance No. 99-17 (1999) (codified as Valdez Municipal Code §3.12.020 (2008)). The ordinance contains exceptions that, in effect, limit .the tax’s applicability primarily to large oil tankers. Ibid. And the City applies the tax in accordance with a value-allocation system that adjusts the amount owed downwards insofar as the tankers spend time in other ports. Valdez, Alaska, Resolution No. 00-15, App. to Pet. for Cert. 53a-56a. Polar Tankers,…
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