United States v. Carolene Products Co.

304 U.S. 144 (1938)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

The federal Filled Milk Act prohibits incorporation of fat or an oil other than milk fat into skimmed milk to produce milk or cream. Carolene shipped its product 'Milnut' in interstate commerce in violation of the Act. Milnut is a milk cream comprised of condensed skimmed milk and coconut oil. Appellee was indicted in the district court for southern Illinois for violation of the Act. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the indictment. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in another case upheld the Filled Milk Act as an appropriate exercise of the commerce power. Appellee assails the statute as beyond the power of Congress over interstate commerce, and hence an invasion of a field of action said to be reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment. Appellee also complains that the statute denies to it equal protection of the laws and, in violation of the Fifth Amendment, deprives it of its property without due process of law, particularly in that the statute purports to make binding and conclusive upon appellee the legislative declaration that appellee's product 'is an adulterated article of food injurious to the public health and its sale constitutes a fraud on the public.'