Scholastic Book Clubs, Inc. v. Roberts
Petition for certiorari denied on November 26, 2012
Issue: (1) Whether the lower court – unlike courts in Arkansas and Michigan – erred in deeming Scholastic’s customers (schoolteachers) to be a physical presence of the company, even though the company does not retain, compensate, or control them in any way; (2) whether the lower court erred by denying Scholastic’s Commerce Clause defense despite recognizing that schoolteachers do not act “on behalf of” the company when they help their young students buy books as part of a classroom order; and (3) whether the lower court erred by establishing a new Commerce Clause standard for the exercise of state taxing authority over non-resident retailers, rather than deferring to Congress to enact legislation under its Commerce Clause powers.