Pacific Merchant Shipping Association v. Goldstene

Docket: 10-1555
Issue(s): (1) Whether the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause prohibit California's extraterritorial exercise of its police powers to require the use of specified low-sulfur fuels on foreign- and U.S.-flagged vessels engaged in foreign and interstate commerce while these ships are on the high seas; and (2) whether, by establishing the measure of California's seaward boundary at three geographical miles distant from its coast line, the Submerged Lands Act preempts California's regulations that require foreign- and U.S.-flagged vessels engaged in international and interstate commerce to use specified low-sulfur fuels while those ships are navigating outside of the state's three-mile seaward territorial boundary so established.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (9th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of the Maritime Law Association of the United States
• Amicus brief of the World Shipping Council et al.
• Reply of petitioner
• Supplemental brief of petitioner

CVSG Information:

• Invited: October 3, 2011
• Filed: May 25, 2012 (Deny)