Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations et al. v. Gould Inc. (475 U.S. 282)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 26, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 475 U.S. 282 · 106 S. Ct. 1057
- Decided
- February 26, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. The question in this case is whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U. S. C. §151 et seq., pre-empts a Wisconsin statute debarring certain repeat violators of the Act from doing business with the State. We hold that it does. I Wisconsin has directed its Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations to maintain a list of every person or firm found by judicially enforced orders of the National Labor Relations Board to have violated the NLRA in three separate cases within a 5-year period. See Wis. Stat. § 101.245 (1983-1984). State procurement agents are statutorily forbidden to purchase “any product known to be manufactured or sold by any person or firm included on the list of labor law violators.” §16.75(8). A name remains on the violators’ list for three years. § 101.245(4). Appellee Gould Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Illinois. In 1982, Wisconsin placed Gould on its list of labor law violators following the judicial enforcement of four Board orders against various divisions of the company, none of which was located in Wisconsin and none of which Gould still owned at the time of its debarment. The State informed Gould that it would enter into no new contract with the company until 1985. The State also announced that it would continue its current contracts with Gould…
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