On June 15, 2009, the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Polar Tankers v. City of Valdez that a municipal tax that falls exclusively on large vessels in the city's harbor violated Article 1 § 10 clause 3, the Tonnage Clause, of the US Constitution. The city of Valdez, Alaska, imposed a tax on oil tankers and other large vessels using its port to pick up and deliver crude oil. The Alaska Supreme Court had upheld the tax. Reversing the opinion below, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote: "The tax, no less than a similar duty, may (depending upon rates) 'ta[x] the consumption' of those in other states. It is consequently the kind of tax that the Tonnage Clause forbids Valdez to impose without the consent of Congress, consent that Valdez lacks." Justice John Paul Stevens filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice David Souter.



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