Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council | |
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Argued March 22, 2000 Decided June 19, 2000 | |
Full case name | Stephen P. Crosby, Secretary of Administration and Finance of Massachusetts, et al. v. National Foreign Trade Council |
Citations | 530 U.S. 363 (more) 120 S. Ct. 2288; 147 L. Ed. 2d 352; 2000 U.S. LEXIS 4153 |
Case history | |
Prior | Natl. Foreign Trade Council v. Baker, 26 F. Supp. 2d 287 (D. Mass. 1998); affirmed sub. nom., Nat'l Foreign Trade Council v. Natsios, 181 F.3d 38 (1st Cir. 1999); cert. granted, 528 U.S. 1018 (1999). |
Holding | |
The state Act is preempted and its application unconstitutional, under the Supremacy Clause. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Souter, joined by Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer |
Concurrence | Scalia, joined by Thomas |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. art. VI |
Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363 (2000), was a unanimous case in which the Supreme Court of the United States used the federal preemption doctrine to strike down the Massachusetts Burma Law, a law that effectively prohibited Massachusetts' governmental agencies from buying goods and services from companies conducting business with Myanmar (Burma), essentially a secondary boycott.[1] The Massachusetts Burma Law was modeled after similar legislation that had targeted the apartheid regime of South Africa.
The Court reasoned that since the United States Congress passed a law imposing sanctions on Myanmar, the Massachusetts law "undermines the intended purpose and 'natural effect' of at least three provisions of the federal Act, that is, its delegation of effective discretion to the President to control economic sanctions against Burma, its limitation of sanctions solely to United States persons and new investment, and its directive to the President to proceed diplomatically in developing a comprehensive, multilateral strategy towards Burma."[2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Denning, Brannon P.; McCall, Jack H. (2000). "Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council. 120 S.Ct. 2288". American Journal of International Law. 94 (4). The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 94, No. 4: 750–758. doi:10.2307/2589803. JSTOR 2589803. S2CID 229170511.
- Stumberg, Robert; Porterfield, Matthew C. (2001). "Who Preempted the Massachusetts Burma Law? Federalism and Political Accountability under Global Trade Rules". Publius. 31 (3). Publius, Vol. 31, No. 3: 173–204. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a004903. JSTOR 3330999.
External links
[edit]- Text of Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363 (2000) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)