Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona
| Southern Pacific Company v. Arizona | |
|---|---|
| Argued March 26, 1945 Decided June 18, 1945 | |
| Full case name | Southern Pacific Company v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, Attorney General |
| Citations | 325 U.S. 761 (more) 65 S. Ct. 1515; 89 L. Ed. 1915; 1945 U.S. LEXIS 2816 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Appeal from a judgment upholding the constitutionality of the Arizona Train Limit Law. 61 Ariz. 66, 145 P.2d 530 |
| Holding | |
| Arizona's state interest in maintaining a state statute that limited trains to either 14 passenger cars or 70 freight cars is outweighed by the interest of the nation in an adequate, economical and efficient railway transportation service. Also, Arizona's argument that the law should survive based on safety concerns is not valid because it did not appear that it will lessen the danger of an accident and also because the law interferes with interstate commerce, which is protected under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Stone, joined by Roberts, Reed, Frankfurter, Murphy, Jackson |
| Concurrence | Rutledge |
| Dissent | Black |
| Dissent | Douglas |
| Laws applied | |
| The Arizona Train Limit Law of May 16, 1912, Arizona Code Ann., 1939, § 69-119 | |
Southern Pacific Company v. Arizona, 325 U.S. 761 (1945), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Arizona Train Limit Law of 1912, which prohibited passenger trains with more than fourteen cars and prohibited freight trains with more than seventy cars, placed an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce. The Court held that the law imposed a burden far greater than necessary to achieve Arizona's legitimate interest in lowering the rate of train accidents. This case is part of the Court's so-called negative commerce clause jurisprudence.