Article I, Section 10, Clause 2:

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

Supreme Court jurisprudence on the Import-Export Clause can be divided into two periods: the first lasting from 1827 to 1976, and the second beginning thereafter. During the first phase, the Court construed the Clause broadly to give effect to the constitutional prohibition on state interference with foreign commerce, even holding that the Twenty-First Amendment, which allowed states to prohibit the sale of alcohol, did not alter the Import-Export Clause’s general prohibition on such interference.1 The Court’s jurisprudence focused on determining whether the items subject to state charges qualified as imports or exports, and did not seek to define precisely what types of charges fell within the Clause’s scope.

By contrast, during the second phase of jurisprudence, the Court clarified that the Clause’s prohibition on state interference applied only to the extent the charges imposed qualified as “imposts” or “duties.” In other words, not all state taxation on imports or exports fall within the constitutional prohibition; therefore, a court must assess whether the relevant charge is an “impost” or “duty.” The Supreme Court has not overruled its jurisprudence from the first period insofar as it addresses whether items qualify as exports or imports. However, this jurisprudence’s continued relevance to Import-Export cases remains unclear.

Footnotes

1

Dep’t of Revenue v. James B. Beam Distilling Co., 377 U.S. 341, 346 (1964).