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The Commerce Clause, Environmental Justice, And The Interstate Garbage Wars, Robert R.M. Verchick

Robert R.M. Verchick

This Article critically examines the Court's garbage cases in conjunction with traditional principles of Commerce Clause jurisprudence for the purpose of constructing a doctrine that is at once constitutionally and ecologically sound. The Article is divided into five parts. Part I briefly describes the current state of the garbage wars, both in terms of environmental effects and in terms of constitutional developments. Parts II and III critically examine the Court's garbage cases from the perspectives of two traditional justifications for the negative Commerce Clause: encouraging fair representation of residents across state lines and discouraging economic protectionism. Here I conclude that …