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Supreme Court Ruling - SD v. Wayfair - The Ruling
2018-06-21 SCOTUS - SD v. Wayfair - Background
June 21, 2018 - The Supreme Court of the United States announced its ruling in the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair. As supreme court decisions go, it is an interesting one. The court in recent history has become highly partisan and divided along ideological lines. A number of recent decisions were split with a four to four vote. The addition of Neil Gorsuch, who replaced Antonin Scalia, looked to tip the balance in the conservatives favor. Yet the decision today found a mix of ideologies, reasonings, and opinions. The majority opionion, written by Justice Kennedy and joined by Justices Thomas, Alito, Ginsburg, and Gorsuch determined that the physical presence rule (i.e. nexus) that resulted from the 1992 case of Quill v. The State of North Dakota (see SCOTUS background post) was "unsound and incorrect". Kennedy noted that "The Internet's prevelance and power have changed the dynamics of the national economy." He further stated that "What Wayfair ignores in its subtle offer to assist in tax evasion is that creating a dream home assumes solvent state and local governments". In other words, Wayfair's success is dependent on a good economic and social structure provided by the government, but for which they are helping to undercut the government's ability to pay for such an environment. Ouch! Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the dissenting opionion joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. In his opinion he agreed that past Court decisions were "wrongly decided" due to the growth of e-commerce, but beleived that "stare decisis" or previous precedent weighed heavily against overruling Quill and that it should be left to Congress to enact legislation that would override those decisions. So the highest court in the land has ruled. What comes next? That, of course is up to the state and federal legislative bodies to determine. What are some likely outcomes? To find out, please read the next post, 2018-06-21 SCOTUS - SD v. Wayfair - What Next? |