Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. · ¶61

Moreover, assessing what qualifes as an essential governmental function can be “unsound in principle and unworkable in practice.” Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U. S. 528, 546 (1985). It has the tendency to produce “inconsistent results” and hamper States' abilities to experiment by forcing them to “pay an added price when they meet the changing needs of their citizenry by taking up functions that an earlier day and a different society left in private hands.” Id., at 546–547. Here, for example, transportation services and infrastructure are “not readily classified as typically state or unquestionably local” given that “States and municipalities alike own and operate bridges, tunnels, ferries, marine terminals, airports, bus terminals, industrial parks, [and] also commuter railroads.” Hess, 513 U. S., at 45. What is more, as shown by the history of NJ Transit…

preliminary print (page proof)
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.