West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U.S. 186, 32 (1994)

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Cite as: 512 U. S. 186 (1994)

Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting

Justice Brandeis' statement has been cited more than once in subsequent majority opinions of the Court. See, e. g., Reeves, Inc. v. Stake, 447 U. S. 429, 441 (1980). His observation bears heeding today, as it did when he made it. The wisdom of a messianic insistence on a grim sink-or-swim policy of laissez-faire economics would be debatable had Congress chosen to enact it; but Congress has done nothing of the kind. It is the Court which has imposed the policy under the dormant Commerce Clause, a policy which bodes ill for the values of federalism which have long animated our constitutional jurisprudence.

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