CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - COMMERCE CLAUSE - POWER TO REGULATE INTRASTATE TRANSACTIONS - MILK PRICES

Pursuant to the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, conferring on the Secretary of Agriculture the power to regulate the handling of milk which is in the current of interstate or foreign commerce, or which directly burdens, obstructs or affects interstate or foreign commerce in such commodity or product thereof, the secretary issued marketing orders fixing minimum prices to be paid to producers of milk in the Chicago area. Respondent, who purchased and sold milk only within the state of Illinois, refused to comply with the order. The United States sought enforcement of the order, but the complaint was dismissed. Held, reversed and remanded. Congress has the power under the commerce clause to regulate intrastate transactions which affect interstate commerce even though this effect is caused only by competition, and such power was conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture by the act. United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., (U. S. 1942) 62 S. Ct. 523