Hipolite Egg Company v. United States (1911)
In Hipolite Egg Company v. United States (1911), the Court upheld the federal Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which prohibited the shipment of adulterated foods in interstate commerce. In this case, the Hipolite Egg Company was penalized for shipping fifty cans of preserved whole eggs that upon inspection contained 2 percent boric acid and were declared adulterated (impure). Relying on its 1908 precedent, Champion v. Ames, which had upheld a federal ban on the shipment of lottery tickets in interstate commerce, and rejecting claims that the federal law violated the Tenth Amendment, the Court commented that Congress’s control over interstate commerce was “subject to no limitations except those found in the Constitution.”
Ellis Katz
Last updated: 2006
SEE ALSO: Champion v. Ames; Commerce among the States; Hammer v. Dagenhart; Tenth Amendment