Reference no: EM131516155

In 1998, the state legislature of Illinois added the Solid Waste Import Restrictions to its State Wide Solid Waste Management Act. These new laws prohibited privately owned landfills in the state from accepting solid wastes (e.g., garbage, rubbish, sludges, and industrial waste) from any source outside the county in which the landfill was located unless the county expressly permitted it. Point Arbors Sanitary Landfill, Inc., a privately owned landfill located in Grace County in Illinois, submitted an application to the Grace County government to allow Point Arbors to accept up to 750 tons per day of out-of-state solid waste. The county rejected the application. Point Arbors sued the county and the state in federal court, alleging that the Solid Waste Import Restrictions violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The state of Illinois and Grace County argued that the Solid Waste Import Restrictions are necessary to public health because they enable individual  counties to make adequate and comprehensive plans for the safe disposal of future waste. The U.S. District Court concluded that the restrictions did not discriminate against interstate commerce and therefore did not violate the Commerce Clause. The U.S. Court of Appeals disagreed and found that the restrictions were unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause. The case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court agrees to hear it. What does the Commerce Clause require in this situation? Do Illinois' Solid Waste Import Restrictions violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution? Why or why not? Fully discuss how the Court would likely analyze this case.