United States Second Circuit

A state statute which prohibits cigarette sellers and carriers from shipping and transporting cigarettes directly to New York consumers does not discriminate against interstate commerce and therefore is not subject to strict scrutiny. To the extent that the law burdens interstate commerce, that burden is significantly outweighed by the law's putative local benefits and therefore does not violate the Commerce Clause.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/14/2003
• Published 02/18/2003

Judges

• Before:  MINER, CABRANES, and POOLER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Lisa M. Landau, Assistant Attorney General of the State of New York, New York, N.Y. (Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Caitlin J. Halligan, Solicitor General of the State of New York, Daniel Smirlock, Deputy Solicitor General, Andrew Bing, Assistant Solicitor General, on the briefs), for Defendants-Appellants., David H. Remes, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC (M. Stacey Bach, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, Laurence A. Silverman, Mark P. Gimbel, Covington & Burling, New York, NY, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellees Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and BWTDirect, LLC., Rodrick J. Enns, Enns & Archer LLP, Winston-Salem, NC (Franklin B. Velie, Dierdre A. Burgman, Salans Hertzfeld Heilbronn Christy & Viener, New York, NY), for Plaintiff-Appellee Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., Inc.