Cite as: 512 U. S. 186 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
Respondent 42. In a closely related argument, respondent urges that "the purpose of the order, to save an industry from collapse, is not protectionist." Id., at 16. If we were to accept these arguments, we would make a virtue of the vice that the rule against discrimination condemns. Preservation of local industry by protecting it from the rigors of interstate competition is the hallmark of the economic protectionism that the Commerce Clause prohibits. In Bacchus Imports, Ltd. v. Dias, 468 U. S., at 272, we explicitly rejected any distinction "between thriving and struggling enterprises." Whether a State is attempting to " 'enhance thriving and substantial business enterprises' " or to " 'subsidize . . . financially troubled' " ones is irrelevant to Commerce Clause analysis. Ibid. With his characteristic eloquence, Justice Cardozo responded to an argument that respondent echoes today:
"The argument is pressed upon us, however, that the end to be served by the Milk Control Act is something more than the economic welfare of the farmers or of any other class or classes. The end to be served is the maintenance of a regular and adequate supply of pure and wholesome milk, the supply being put in jeopardy when
the pricing order, that would not be sufficient to uphold a discriminatory regulation. See Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U. S. 617, 626-627 (1978). Finally, the suggestion that the collapse of the dairy industry endangers open space is not self-evident. Dairy farms are enclosed by fences, and the decline of farming may well lead to less, rather than more, intensive land use. As one scholar noted: "Many people assume that . . . land lost from agriculture is now in urban uses. It is true that some agricultural land has been urbanized, especially since World War II, but the major portion of the land moving out of agriculture over the years has been abandoned to natural forest growth." J. Foster & W. MacConnell, Agricultural Land Use Change in Massachusetts 1951-1971, p. 5 (Research Bulletin No. 640, Jan. 1977); see also Department of Agriculture, A. Daugherty, Major Uses of Land in the United States: 1987, pp. 4, 13 (Agricultural Economic Rep. No. 643, 1991) (decline in grazing and pasture land offset by increased wilderness, wildlife, and park areas).
205
Page: Index Previous 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007