| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Mortier wants to spray aerial pesticide. A local rule says he can not. Federal pesticide law (FIFRA) does not prohibit it. |
| Posture: | WI SC doesn't address state-law pre-emption but says that FIFRA pre-empts the local town ordinance. |
| Issue: | Does FIFRA pre-empt local municipal ordinances? |
| Holding: | No. Reversed. |
| Rule: | If it doesn't explicitly pre-empt, it doesn't pre-empt. |
| Reasoning: | The word "state" is defined there, and it doesn't mention subdivisions of states. Local governments, therefore, are permitted to regulate in accordance with the needs they perceive. |
| Dicta: | Big dissent from Scalia: the law is what it says, and there's no point in dragging in committee reports and so forth. You have to interpret the text, not what other things suggest about it. |