Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison

Justice Scalia, with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Thomas, and Justice Ginsburg join,

dissenting.

The Court’s negative Commerce Clause jurisprudence has drifted far from its moorings. Originally designed to create a national market for commercial activity, it is today invoked to prevent a State from giving a tax break to charities that benefit the State’s inhabitants. In my view, Maine’s tax exemption, which excuses from taxation only that property *596used to relieve the State of its burden of caring for its residents, survives even our most demanding Commerce Clause scrutiny.

I

We have often said…