State of Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co.

Minnesota banned retail milk sales in plastic nonreturnable containers while permitting other nonreturnable containers like paperboard cartons, citing solid-waste and environmental concerns; Clover Leaf Creamery and other dairy and plastics producers (plaintiffs), both in-state and out-of-state, sued Minnesota (defendant), alleging the law's real purpose was protecting local dairy and pulpwood industries at the expense of the plastics industry and other dairy segments. The district court struck down the law, the state supreme court affirmed, and the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.