Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council

Summary

Justice Souter's opinion for the Court held that the federal Burma sanctions statute preempted Massachusetts's restrictions on state purchases from companies doing business with Burma. The state law frustrated Congress's delegation of flexible sanctions authority to the President, exceeded Congress's calibrated limitations on sanctioned conduct and persons, and impaired the President's ability to develop a comprehensive, multilateral strategy. Congress's failure expressly to preempt state sanctions did not establish permission for conflicting state measures. The Court affirmed without deciding field preemption or the independent foreign-affairs and dormant Foreign Commerce Clause grounds. Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, concurred only in the judgment, agreeing that the statutory text and record established the conflict but criticizing the majority's extensive reliance on legislative history as unnecessary and unreliable.