McKESSON CORP. v. FLORIDA ALCOHOL & TOBACCO DIV.

No. 88-192.

496 U.S. 18 (1990)

McKESSON CORPORATION v. DIVISION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND TOBACCO, DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS REGULATION OF FLORIDA, ET AL.

Supreme Court of United States.

Reargued December 6, 1989

Decided June 4, 1990


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

David G. Robertson reargued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was Walter Hellerstein.

H. Bartow Farr III reargued the cause for respondents. With him on the briefs were Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General of Florida, Joseph C. Mellichamp III, Assistant Attorney General, and Daniel C. Brown, Special Assistant Attorney General.*

Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of California et al. by John K. Van de Kamp, Attorney General of California, and Richard F. Finn, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Eric J. Coffill, Jim Jones, Attorney General of Idaho, Marc Racicot, Attorney General of Montana, Nicholas J. Spaeth, Attorney General of North Dakota, Jim Mattox, Attorney General of Texas, R. Paul Van Dam, Attorney General of Utah, Robert K. Corbin, Attorney General of Arizona, Warren Price III, Attorney General of Hawaii, Hubert H. Humphrey III, Attorney General of Minnesota, and Herbert O. Reid, Sr., Acting Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia; for the State of Georgia et al. by Mary Sue Terry, Attorney General of Virginia, H. Lane Kneedler, Chief Deputy Attorney General, and Walter A. McFarlane, Deputy Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Michael J. Bowers of Georgia, William J. Guste, Jr., of Louisiana, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., of Maryland, Frank J. Kelley of Michigan, Michael Moore of Mississippi, Robert M. Spire of Nebraska, Brian McKay of Nevada, John P. Arnold of New Hampshire, Peter N. Perretti, Jr., of New Jersey, Lacy H. Thornburg of North Carolina, Robert H. Henry of Oklahoma, Dave Frohnmayer of Oregon, T. Travis Medlock of South Carolina, Roger A. Tellinghuisen of South Dakota, Charles W. Burson of Tennessee, R. Paul Van Dam of Utah, Jeffrey L. Amestoy of Vermont, and Godfrey R. de Castro of the Virgin Islands; for Caterpillar Inc. by Don S. Harnack; and for the National Conference of State Legislatures et al. by Benna Ruth Solomon and Charles Rothfeld.


JUSTICE BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner McKesson Corporation brought this action in Florida state court, alleging that Florida's liquor excise tax violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Florida Supreme Court agreed with petitioner that the tax scheme unconstitutionally discriminated against interstate commerce because it provided preferences for distributors of certain local...

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