572
Opinion of the Court
Sullivan, 325 U. S. 761 [(1945)]; Morgan v. Virginia, 328 U. S. 373 [(1946)]." Freeman v. Hewit, 329 U. S. 249, 252 (1946). Our decisions on this point reflect, "upon fullest consideration, the course of adjudication unbroken through the Nation's history." Ibid. See also H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 336 U. S. 525, 534-535 (1949). Although Congress unquestionably has the power to repudiate or substantially modify that course of adjudication,8 it has not done so.
This case involves an issue that we have not previously addressed—the disparate real estate tax treatment of a nonprofit service provider based on the residence of the consumers that it serves. The Town argues that our dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence is wholly inapplicable to this case, because interstate commerce is not implicated here and Congress has no power to enact a tax on real estate. We first reject these arguments, and then explain why we think our prior cases make it clear that if profit-making enterprises were at issue, Maine could not tax petitioner more heavily than other camp operators simply because its campers come principally from other States. We next address the novel question whether a different rule should apply to a discriminatory tax exemption for charitable and benevolent institutions. Finally, we reject the Town's argument that the exemption should either be viewed as a permissible subsidy or as a purchase of services by the State acting as a "market participant."
III
We are unpersuaded by the Town's argument that the dormant Commerce Clause is inapplicable here, either because campers are not "articles of commerce" or, more generally, because the camp's "product is delivered and 'consumed' entirely within Maine." Brief for Respondents
8 See New York v. United States, 505 U. S. 144, 171 (1992); Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U. S. 298, 318 (1992); Prudential Ins. Co. v. Benjamin, 328 U. S. 408, 429-430, 434-435 (1946).
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