Dormant Commerce Clause Hypotheticals

Hypothetical Number 1

Assume there are two private colleges in the State of Stone. The student body of one is composed of 90 percent Stone residents and the student body of the other is composed of 90 percent out-of-state residents. Can the State of Stone give a property tax exemption to the first college and not the second?

Hypothetical Number 2

The City of Springdale passes an ordinance that requires all nonrecyclable solid waste generated within the city to be disposed of at a private transfer station located within the City of Springdale. Springdale has five private transfer stations within its city limits. Is the city ordinance constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 3

The City of Springdale passes an ordinance that requires all nonrecyclable solid waste generated within the city to be disposed of at the Route 21 Transfer Station, a private facility located within the city. The owner of the Route 21 Transfer Station has agreed to sell the transfer station to the city at a low price in 3 years in exchange for the city's creation of this monopoly. Is the city ordinance constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 4

The City of Springdale builds a transfer station. After the municipal facility opens, the city passes an ordinance that requires all nonrecyclable solid waste generated within the city to be disposed of at the City of Springdale Municipal Transfer Station. Is the city ordinance constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 5

The City of Springdale builds a shoe store. After the municipal facility opens, the city passes an ordinance that requires all shoe purchases within the city to be made at the City of Springdale Municipal Shoe Store. Is the city ordinance constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 6

The City of Springdale builds a shoe store. It sells shoes at 10% less than private shoe stores charge for the same shoes. It only sells shoes to residents of the city. Is the policy constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 7

The City of The City of Springdale builds a shoe store. It sells shoes at 10% less than private shoe stores charge for the same shoes. It only sells shoes on the condition that if the shoes need to be repaired at any time in the future, the purchaser agrees to have them repaired at a shoe repair shop within the City of Springdale. Is the policy constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 8

The State of Stone has discovered a large quantity of a rare mineral called glassex on land owned by the state. Glassex has not been previously found in other states, although several South American countries are mining glassex. Glassex is extremely valuable because it can be added to the glass-making process to produce unbreakable glass items that look identical to ordinary glass. Stone has decided to set up the State of Stone Glassex Mining Company, a state-run company, to extract and sell glassex. There is heavy demand for glassex from glass manufacturing companies throughout the United States. The State of Stone Glassex Mining Company has decided that it will only sell glassex to Stone residents and businesses with manufacturing facilities in Stone. Is the restriction on sale constitutional?

Hypothetical Number 9

The State of Stone operates the State University of Stone. The total cost of educating a student each year at the State University is $25,000. The University charges residents of Stone $10,000 in tuition each year. The remainder of the cost ($15,000) comes from money the state allocates to support the state university from state tax revenues. Out-of-state residents are charged $20,000 per year for tuition. An out-of-state resident who attends the University wishes to challenge the constitutionality of the higher tuition charged to nonresidents claiming it violates the dormant Commerce Clause. Does the $20,000 tuition charge for out-of-state residents violate the Clause?

Hypothetical Number 10

The State of Stone operates the State University of Stone. The total cost of educating a student each year at the State University is $25,000. The University charges residents of Stone $10,000 in tuition each year. The remainder of the cost ($15,000) comes from money the state allocates to support the state university from state tax revenues. Out-of-state residents are charged $30,000 per year for tuition. An out-of-state resident who attends the University wishes to challenge the constitutionality of the higher tuition charged to nonresidents claiming it violates the dormant Commerce Clause. Does the $30,000 tuition charge for out-of-state residents violate the Clause?

Hypothetical Number 11

The State of Stone recently adopted new milk safety standards. These standards are stricter than anywhere else in the country. The standards are designed to assure the safety of the milk supply and protect the health of adults and children who drink milk. The standards have been scientifically proven to make the milk supply 5% safer than the milk safety standards used by other states and as a result fewer people drinking the milk will suffer adverse health effects. The standards also impose an expense on companies wanting to sell milk in Stone. It is estimated that compliance with the new standards will cost companies that sell milk in Stone $40,000,000 a year. Twenty-five percent of the milk sold in Stone originates out-of-state. Therefore, $10 million of the financial burden will fall on out-of-state companies. The new standards are challenged as a violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause by a major out-of-state milk supplier who sells 20% of its milk in the State of Stone. What result and why?