Court Allows Commerce Clause Claims Against the District of Columbia to Proceed

On January 29, 2019, Judge Epstein of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia denied the District’s motion to dismiss the entire action by which Plaintiffs maintain that a District law violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution because it only allows semipublic institutions (essentially section 501(c)(3) organizations) with an office in the District to obtain an exemption from sales and related taxes and therefore discriminates against semipublic institutions that reside outside the District.  Specifically, the Court allowed all of Plaintiffs’ claims to proceed except for the claim for injunctive relief.