City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey

Background

A New Jersey law bars anyone from bringing into the State “any solid or liquid waste” that originated outside New Jersey, except garbage to be fed to swine. The New Jersey Supreme Court held the law was not overridden by an earlier federal waste statute and did not unlawfully discriminate against interstate commerce. After the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in October 1976, and the parties submitted new briefs about how that law might affect the state ban.

Reasoning

The central question the Court focused on was whether the new federal law displaces the New Jersey statute. The Court explained that pre-emption—whether federal law overrides state law—is primarily a matter of interpreting the federal statute and should be resolved before deciding the constitutional commerce question. For that reason, the Court vacated the New Jersey decision and sent the case back to the New Jersey Supreme Court to reconsider the validity of the state ban in light of RCRA.

Real world impact

Because the Court did not decide the constitutional question, the practical status of New Jersey’s ban remains unresolved. The remand requires the state court to assess whether RCRA pre-empts the ban, which could change whether out-of-state waste may be brought into New Jersey. The ruling creates delay and uncertainty for waste haulers, landfill operators, municipalities, and states while the state court reconsiders the issue.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Powell, joined by three colleagues, dissented, arguing that Congress did not intend RCRA to pre-empt state laws like New Jersey’s and that the Supreme Court should have decided the case on the merits instead of remanding.