Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison, 340 U.S. 349 (1951)
Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison
No. 258
Argued December 7, 1950
Decided January 15, 1951
340 U.S. 349
APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN
Syllabus
1. An ordinance of a Wisconsin municipality forbids the sale of milk in the city as pasteurized unless it has been pasteurized and bottled at an approved pasteurization plant within five miles of the center of the city. Appellant, an Illinois corporation engaged in gathering and distributing milk from farms in Illinois and Wisconsin, was denied a license to sell its products within the city solely because its pasteurization plants were more than five miles away.
Held: The ordinance unjustifiably discriminates against interstate commerce, in violation of the Commerce Clause of the Federal Constitution. Pp. 350-357.
(a) Even in the exercise of its unquestioned power to protect the health and safety of its people, a municipality may not erect an economic barrier protecting a major local industry against competition from without the state if reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives, adequate to conserve legitimate local interests, are available. P. 354.
(b) In view of the reasonable and adequate alternatives which are available for the protection of the health and safety of the people of the municipality, the discrimination against interstate commerce inherent in the ordinance violates the Commerce Clause. Pp. 354-356.
2. A second provision of the ordinance in question forbids the sale of milk, or the importation, receipt or storage of milk for sale, within the city except from a source of supply possessing a permit issued after inspection by city officials, and expressly relieves the city officials from any duty to inspect farms located beyond twenty-five miles from the city. Appellant’s attack on the constitutional validity of this provision was dismissed by the state court for want of a justiciable controversy.
Held: as to the issue thus presented, the cause is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with the principles announced in the opinion of this Court. Pp. 350-351, 356-357.
257 Wis. 308, 43 N.W.2d 480, reversed.
An ordinance of a Wisconsin municipality regulating the sale of milk was sustained by the State Supreme Court over appellant’s objections to its validity under the Federal Constitution. 257 Wis. 308, 43 N.W.2d 480. On appeal to this Court, reversed and remanded, p. 357.