This is a guest post by David Goodwin.

Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association v. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission—Dormant Commerce Clause (!)/right to travel (!!)—affirming—Shwartz 

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is, apparently, really expensive—Verrazzano Bridge levels of expensive—and has gotten more so in recent years. No less an authority than Pennsylvania’s Auditor General has sounded the alarm. Intriguingly, the revenue actually collected exceeds what is needed to run the Turnpike, and is distributed to four different state programs—projects that, as will become important momentarily, are authorized by the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (we’ll call this “the Act”).

The plaintiffs sued, alleging violations of the Dormant Commerce Clause and the constitutional right to interstate travel. The District Court dismissed, and the Third Circuit affirms.

Under the Dormant Commerce Clause, states may not discriminate against or unduly burden interstate commerce. Writing for the Court, Judge Shwartz observes that Congress may authorize states to take actions that burden interstate commerce, at which point the Dormant Commerce Clause doesn’t apply at all. Here, the Act, which is excerpted at length, is an expression of Congress’s “unmistakably clear” intent to allow for the use of toll revenues for non-toll projects, which in turn must contemplate that toll revenues can exceed the operating costs of the toll road. A failure to comply with annual certification requirements of the Act did not bring the defendants’ actions outside of the authorization or within the scope of a Dormant Commerce Clause challenge.

With regard to the right to interstate travel, Judge Shwartz holds that simply making one mode of travel less attractive or more burdensome does not implicate the right. That some may switch from toll roads to non-toll roads, in other words, does not rise to the level of impermissible deterrence.

(Because I am compelled to do so, I note that the font size changes suddenly for a single paragraph at the bottom of page 19, before popping back up to regular size at the end of the affected paragraph. A contribution from another panelist, perhaps?)

Joining Judge Shwartz were Judge Krause and Judge Fuentes. Paul D. Cullen, Sr.  of The Cullen Law Firm argued for the appellants (Junior was also on the brief). Duane Morris’s Robert L. Byer, a former Pennsylvania judge and founding member of the Third Circuit Bar Association, and Schnader’s Bruce P. Merenstein, a former Becker clerk, argued for the appeellees.  The Miguel Estrada filed one of the amicus briefs.