Clean Air by Contract: American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

Abstract

In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously and narrowly decided American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 133 S.Ct. 2096 (2013). The Court boiled years of controversy down to one simple question: Did the contractual requirements at issue have the "force and effect of law"? The simplicity of the Court's reasoning stands in stark contrast to the opinions of the district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the matter. These lower courts presented lengthy, complicated opinions in which their authors grappled with federal preemption, the dormant Commerce Clause, the market participant exception, and other thorny concepts of constitutional law.