New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 65 (1992)

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208

NEW YORK v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of White, J.

IV

Though I disagree with the Court's conclusion that the take title provision is unconstitutional, I do not read its opinion to preclude Congress from adopting a similar measure through its powers under the Spending or Commerce Clauses. The Court makes clear that its objection is to the alleged "commandeer[ing]" quality of the take title provision. See ante, at 175. As its discussion of the surcharge and rebate incentives reveals, see ante, at 171-172, the spending power offers a means of enacting a take title provision under the Court's standards. Congress could, in other words, condition the payment of funds on the State's willingness to take title if it has not already provided a waste disposal facility. Under the scheme upheld in these cases, for example, moneys collected in the surcharge provision might be withheld or disbursed depending on a State's willingness to take title to or otherwise accept responsibility for the low-level radioactive waste generated in state after the statutory deadline for establishing its own waste disposal facility has passed. See ibid.; South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U. S. 203, 208- 209 (1987); Massachusetts v. United States, 435 U. S. 444, 461 (1978).

Similarly, should a State fail to establish a waste disposal facility by the appointed deadline (under the statute as presently drafted, January 1, 1996, § 2021e(d)(2)(C)), Congress has the power pursuant to the Commerce Clause to regulate directly the producers of the waste. See ante, at 174. Thus, as I read it, Congress could amend the statute to say that if a State fails to meet the January 1, 1996, deadline for

sional statutes that impose clear directives on state officials, including

those enacted pursuant to the Extradition Clause, see, e. g., Puerto Rico v. Branstad, 483 U. S. 219, 227-228 (1987), the post-Civil War Amendments, see, e. g., South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 319-320, 334-335 (1966), as well as congressional statutes that require state courts to hear certain actions, see, e. g., Testa v. Katt, 330 U. S. 386, 392-394 (1947).

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