1. South Carolina State Hwy. Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., (1938)
2. Facts: A 1933 South Carolina law prohibited trucks that were more than 90 inches wide or had a gross weight of over 20,000 pounds from travelling on South Carolina highways. About 85% to 90% of the nations trucks exceeded these limits. The law was passed to preserve the highways from damage.
3. Procedural Posture: The trial court found that substantial burdens were put on interstate commerce by this law, and that it was an unreasonable means of protecting the highways because it was tied to gross weight instead of axle weight.
4. Issue: Whether the South Carolina law is unconstitutional as an impermissible conflict with the dormant commerce power.
5. Holding: No.
6. Majority Reasoning: There are matters of local state concern, the regulation of which unavoidably involves some regulation of interstate commerce, but which, because of their local character and diversity, may not be fully dealt with by congress. A state has an adequate local interest in preserving its highways. Thus, it can pass local laws to regulate the size of shipping on those highways. The fact that this necessarily affects interstate commerce is immaterial because, so long as the law does not discriminate, which this one does not, the power is reserved to the states to regulate. It is not the judicial function to determine whether the standard is the best approach or not, but only to determine whether it is without a rational basis.
