United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Sage Stores Co. v. Kansas, 323 U.S. 32 (1944)

Sage Stores Co. v. Kansas ex rel. Mitchell

No. 34

Argued October 17, 1944

Decided November 6, 1944

323 U.S. 32

Syllabus

A statute of Kansas forbids the sale or keeping for sale of milk "to which has been added any fat or oil other than milk fat." One of the purposes of the legislation was prevention of fraud and deception in the sale of such compounds.

Held:

1. The statute does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 323 U. S. 34.

The statute is not without rational basis, even though it permits the sale of skim milk while forbidding the sale of allegedly more nutritive compounds.

2. The question of the coverage of the statute is one of state law. P. 323 U. S. 35.

3. As applied to the petitioners' products, which had the taste, consistency, color, and appearance of whole milk products, the statute did not violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Carolene Products Co. v. United States, ante, p. 323 U. S. 18. P. 323 U. S. 36.

157 Kan. 404, 622, 143 P.2d 652, affirmed.

Page 323 U. S. 33

Certiorari, 321 U.S. 762, to review a judgment of the Supreme Court of Kansas which, in an original proceeding in quo warranto, sustained the constitutionality of a statute of that State as applied to the petitioners here.