Cite as: 529 U. S. 89 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 385 (1992); American Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Central Office Telephone, Inc., 524 U. S. 214, 227-228 (1998).
From the text of OPA and the long-established understanding of the appropriate balance between federal and state regulation of maritime commerce, we hold that the pre-emptive effect of the PWSA and regulations promulgated under it are not affected by OPA. We doubt Congress will be surprised by our conclusion, for the Conference Report on OPA shared our view that the statute "does not disturb the Supreme Court's decision in Ray v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 435 U. S. 151 (1978)." H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 101-653, p. 122 (1990). The holding in Ray also survives the enactment of OPA undiminished, and we turn to a detailed discussion of that case.
As we mentioned above, the Ray Court confronted a claim by the operator of a Puget Sound refinery that federal law precluded Washington from enforcing laws imposing certain substantive requirements on tankers. The Ray Court prefaced its analysis of the state regulations with the following observation:
"The Court's prior cases indicate that when a State's exercise of its police power is challenged under the Supremacy Clause, 'we start with the assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.' Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947)." 435 U. S., at 157.
The fragmentary quote from Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218 (1947), does not support the scope given to it by the Court of Appeals or by respondents.
Ray quoted but a fragment of a much longer paragraph found in Rice. The quoted fragment is followed by extensive and careful qualifications to show the different ap-
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