CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-COMMERCE CLAUSE-STATE REGULATION OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE

The City of Madison enacted an ordinance prohibiting the sale within the municipality's jurisdiction of milk not pasteurized and bottled within five miles of the city's central square. Plaintiff, an Illinois corporation engaged in distributing milk and milk products in Illinois and Wisconsin, had its pasteurization plant in Illinois, approximately sixty-five miles from Madison. After it had been denied a permit to distribute milk in Madison, plaintiff brought an action for a declaratory judgment as to the validity of the ordinance. The ordinance was upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court as a reasonable exercise of the municipality's police power.

On appeal to the United States Supreme Court, held, reversed, Justices Black, Douglas and Minton dissenting. The ordinance unduly burdens interstate commerce in view of the reasonable and adequate alternatives available. Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison, Wisconsin, (U.S. 1951) 71 S.Ct. 295.