National Foreign v. Natsios
Case Date: 06/22/1999
Court: United States Court of Appeals
Docket No: 98-2304
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United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit ____________________ No. 98-2304 NATIONAL FOREIGN TRADE COUNCIL, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. ANDREW S. NATSIOS, in his official capacity as Secretary of Administration and Finance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and PHILMORE ANDERSON, III, in his official capacity as State Purchasing Agent for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Defendants, Appellants. ____________________ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Joseph L. Tauro, U.S. District Judge] ____________________ Before Lynch, Circuit Judge, Coffin and Cyr, Senior Circuit Judges. ____________________ Thomas A. Barnico, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Thomas F. Reilly, Attorney General, and James A. Sweeney, Assistant Attorney General, were on brief, for appellants. Timothy B. Dyk, with whom Gregory A. Castanias, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Michael A. Collora, and Dwyer & Collora were on brief, for appellee. Jonathan P. Hiatt and Deborah Greenfield on brief for amicus curiae American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Loretta M. Smith, Cynthia L. Amara, and New England Legal Foundation on brief for amici curiae Associated Industries of Massachusetts and Retailers Association of Massachusetts. Zach Cowan, Acting City Attorney, and Christopher Alonzi, Deputy City Attorney, on brief for amicus curiae City of Berkeley, California. Martin S. Kaufman, Edwin L. Lewis, III, and Atlantic Legal Foundation, Inc. on brief for amici curiae William E. Brock, Sam M. Gibbons, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Lee H. Hamilton, Carla A. Hills, George P. Shultz, and Clayton Yeutter. Deborah E. Anker, Peter Rosenblum, Anusha Rasalingam, and Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic on brief for amici curiae Center for Constitutional Rights, Citizens for Participation in Political Action, The International Labor Rights Fund, The New England Burma Roundtable, and The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Daniel M. Price, Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy LLP, Robin S. Conrad, National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., Jan Amundson, and Quentin Riegel on brief for amici curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, Organization for International Investment, National Association of Manufacturers, United States Council for International Business, American Insurance Association, American Petroleum Institute, and American Farm Bureau Federation. Sara C. Kay, Associate General Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the City of New York, on brief for amici curiae the Comptroller of the City of New York, the Cities of Los Angeles, California, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oakland, California, Boulder, Colorado, Santa Cruz, California, and Newton, Massachusetts, the Towns of Amherst, Massachusetts and Carrboro, North Carolina, the City and County of San Francisco, California, and the County of Alameda, California. George A. Hall, Jr. and Anderson & Kreiger LLP on brief for amici curiae Consumer's Choice Council, American Lands Alliance, Preamble Center, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Friends of the Earth, Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, and Rainforest Relief. Richard L. Herz and Steven B. Herz on brief for amicus curiae EarthRights International. Richard L.A. Weiner, David G. Leitch, Gil A. Abramson, and Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. on brief for amici curiae The European Communities and Their Member States. Robert Stumberg, Matthew Porterfield, and Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center on brief for amici curiae Members of Congress Sen. Edward Kennedy, Rep. David Bonior, Rep. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Michael Capuano, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Rep. William Delahunt, Rep. Lane Evans, Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Rep. Edward Markey, Rep. James McGovern, Rep. Martin Meehan, Rep. Joseph Moakley, Rep. George Miller, Rep. Richard Neal, Rep. Robert Ney, Rep. John Olver, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Bernard Sanders, Rep. Janice Schakowsky, Rep. Christopher Smith, Rep. Ted Strickland, Rep. John Tierney, Rep. James Traficant, and Rep. Henry Waxman. Charles Clark, W. Thomas McCraney, III, and Watkins & Eager, PLLC on brief for amici curiae Members of Congress Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Sen. Rod Grams, Sen. Craig Thomas, Sen. Pat Roberts, Rep. Calvin Dooley, Rep. Donald Manzullo, Rep. Amory Houghton, Rep. Michael G. Oxley, Rep. Doug Bereuter, and Rep. David Dreier. Heidi Heitkamp, Attorney General of North Dakota, Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of California, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, Philip T. McLaughlin, Attorney General of New Hampshire, Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General of New Mexico, Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York, John Cornyn, Attorney General of Texas, Hardy Myers, Attorney General of Oregon, and William H. Sorrell, Attorney General of Vermont, on brief for amici curiae States of North Dakota, California, New York, Texas, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maryland. Daniel J. Popeo, R. Shawn Gunnarson, Evan Slavitt, and Gadsby & Hannah LLP on brief for amici curiae The Washington Legal Foundation, American Legislative Exchange Council, Rep. George N. Katsakiores, Rep. Howard L. Fargo, and New York State Assemblyman Clifford W. Crouch. ____________________ June 22, 1999 ____________________ LYNCH, Circuit Judge. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts appeals from an injunction restraining enforcement of the Massachusetts Burma Law, which restricts the ability of Massachusetts and its agencies to purchase goods or services from companies that do business with Burma. We affirm the district court's finding that the law interferes with the foreign affairs power of the federal government and is thus unconstitutional. We also find that the Massachusetts Burma Law violates the Foreign Commerce Clause. We further find that the Massachusetts Burma Law violates the Supremacy Clause because it is preempted by federal sanctions against Burma. We affirm the injunction issued by the district court. There is one matter on which the parties are agreed: human rights conditions in Burma are deplorable. This case requires no inquiry into these conditions. I 1. The Massachusetts Burma Law In 1996, Massachusetts enacted "An Act Regulating State Contracts with Companies Doing Business with or in Burma (Myanmar)," ch. 130, 1996 Mass. Acts 239 (codified at Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 7, 22G-22M, 40F |