Details on today’s opinions
on Apr 29, 2013 at 12:00 pm
In McBurney v. Young, a unanimous Court (in an opinion by Justice Alito) held that Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, which grants Virginia citizens access to all public records, but grants no such right to non-Virginians, does not violate the Privileges and Immunities Clause, which protects only those privileges and immunities that are “fundamental.” Nor, the Court held, does the Act violate the dormant Commerce Clause: it neither prohibits access to an interstate market nor imposes burdensome regulation on that market; and, in any event, a state does not violate the Clause when, having created a market through a state program, it “limits benefits generated by [that] state program to those who fund the state treasury and whom the State was created to serve.” Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion.
Vote in McBurney v. Young; opinion author boxed in red.
In Boyer v. Louisiana, the Court dismissed the petition for certiorari as improvidently granted. Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion, which was joined by Justices Scalia and Thomas. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan.
Vote in Boyer v. Louisiana; dissenting votes greyed.
