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RAYMOND MOTOR TRANSPORTATION COMPANY v. RICE 434 U.S. 429 (1978)

Continuing a line of decisions begun in SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY V. ARIZONA (1945), an 8–0 Supreme Court struck down a state highway regulation as an unconstitutional burden on INTERSTATE COMMERCE. A Wisconsin statute barred trucks over fifty-five feet in length from state highways as a safety measure. Two trucking companies challenged the law under the COMMERCE CLAUSE. A strong demonstration that the law made, at best, a negligible contribution to highway safety combined with the state's failure to provide an adequate defense of the measure led the Court to override the strong presumption usually given such laws.

In Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Delaware (1981), Iowa made a "more serious effort to support the safety rationale of its [fifty-five foot limit] than did Wisconsin in Raymond, " but a 6–3 Court, relying on Raymond, struck down the Iowa statute on the same grounds.