United States v. South Carolina

578 F. Supp. 549, 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,399, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15499
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedJuly 13, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. 81-1867-0
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 578 F. Supp. 549 (United States v. South Carolina) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. South Carolina, 578 F. Supp. 549, 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,399, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15499 (D.S.C. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MATTHEW J. PERRY, Jr., District Judge.

This action was commenced by the United States against the State of South Carolina and the Commissioners of the South Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to obtain a declaratory judgment that Sections 61-7-300 and 61-9-1270 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976 1 impose an unconstitutional tax on federal instrumentalities and a permanent injunction against the implementation of those statutes. On August 27, 1981 three days before the date on which the statutes were to become effective, this Court entered a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the statutes. The matter is now before the Court on cross motions for summary judgment, filed by the parties pursuant to Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, with all parties asserting the absence of genuine issues of material fact and the entitlement to judgment in their favor, respectively.

The facts are simple and may be succinctly stated. The United States has six military installations located in South Carolina over which exclusive federal jurisdiction is exercised. Each installation has officials whose duties include the procurement of alcoholic liquors, beer and wine for resale within its installation club system. Those procurement officials are required by regulation to purchase alcoholic beverages at the most advantageous prices. Profits derived from resales are used to provide for the welfare and morale of the military. Military procurement personnel generally purchase these beverages from sellers situated outside the State of South Carolina without regard to whether those sellers hold licenses to traffic in alcoholic beverages within South Carolina. This [551]*551practice, the plaintiff argues, has ensured that the acquisition prices of such beverages have been as low as possible.2

Sections 61-7-300 and 61-9-1270, Code of Laws of South Carolina, were enacted and became effective September 1, 1981. These statutes require sweeping changes in the practices now pursued by the procurement officials above described in that they require them to purchase all alcoholic beverages from persons who hold South Carolina licenses authorizing them to wholesale such beverages. These statutes also require the imposition of the alcoholic beverage taxes provided in Sections 12-33-410 and 12-33-420 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976. The statutes have the overall effect of making the military’s acquisition costs of alcoholic beverages more expensive than they otherwise would be. Moreover, the plaintiff argues, there is a direct conflict between the applicable federal directives and regulations and the provisions of these statutes.

Subsection d of each statute, §§ 61-7-300(d) and 61-9-1270(d) command that any-registered producer who sells beverages in violation thereof shall have its certificate of registration suspended for such period as the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission shall determine. Plaintiff argues that these provisions will place sellers to the plaintiff’s military services who also happen to be registered producers or who happen to be represented in South Carolina by registered producers in the position of trying to honor prices previously agreed upon with federal officials while at the same time trying to obey the requirements of state law.

Where Congress exercises a duly granted power, federal law preempts the, operation of any corresponding state legislation in conflict therewith. Rice v. Williams, 458 U.S. 654, 102 S.Ct. 3294, 73 L.Ed.2d 1042 (1982). See United States v. Georgia Public Service Commission, 371 U.S. 285, 83 S.Ct. 397, 9 L.Ed.2d 317 (1963); (Georgia policy which undermined the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, must give way to federal law); Paul v. United States, 371 U.S. 245, 83 S.Ct. 426, 9 L.Ed.2d 292 (1963) (Supremacy Clause barred State from enforcing minimum wholesale price regulation with respect to milk sold to the United States at military installations when regulation conflicts with federal procurement policy which demanded competition); Free v. Bland, 369 U.S. 663, 82 S.Ct. 1089, 8 L.Ed.2d 180 (1962) (contrary Texas community property law will not prevent United States savings bonds held in co-ownership from passing to surviving co-owner upon death of the other co-owner); Leslie Miller, Inc. v. Arkansas, 352 U.S. 187, 77 S.Ct. [552]*552257, 1 L.Ed.2d 231 (1956) (Arkansas statutes held unconstitutional when they conflicted with Armed Services Procurement Act of 1947); Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1924) (State laws may not interfere with those laws of Congress which are enacted in pursuance of the Constitution).

Thus,- the statutes and regulations of the United States are the “Law of the Land,” as that phrase is used in Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, Article VI.

This rule is more easily stated than applied. Therefore, a two tiered analytical framework exists for determining whether in a given case the doctrine of preemption applies. The first item for consideration is jurisdiction. Here the relevant inquiry is whether the subject matter at issue is within the exclusive domain of the federal government. Where the subject is clearly of federal concern, the Supremacy Clause preempts all state regulation which irrevocably conflicts with the impact or intent of the federal law. Thus, for example, a state cannot indirectly regulate the delivery of mail by requiring a driver license where a federal statute provides that a mail carrier’s competence to drive shall be determined by his superiors. Johnson v. Maryland, 254 U.S. 51, 41 S.Ct. 16, 65 L.Ed. 126 (1920). Nor may a state impose an inspection fee upon the United States. See Mayo v. United States, 319 U.S. 441, 63 S.Ct. 1137, 87 L.Ed. 1504 (1943). A state may not require the licensing of a construction contractor where work is to be performed exclusively within a federal enclave. Miller v. State of Arkansas, 352 U.S. 187, 77 S.Ct. 257, 1 L.Ed.2d 231 (1956). And “unshaken, rarely questioned, ... is the principle that possessions, institutions and activities of the federal Government itself in the absence of express congressional consent are not subject to any form of state taxation.” United States v. County of Allegheny, 322 U.S. 174, 64 S.Ct. 908, 88 L.Ed. 1209 (1944).

The second item for consideration is the requirement of a balancing of federal and state interests.

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578 F. Supp. 549, 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,399, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15499, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-south-carolina-scd-1983.