SCOTUS Axes Maryland’s Appeal to Restore Price-Gouging Law

The Supreme Court refused to hear Maryland’s appeal to revive a state law aimed at preventing drug companies from “price-gouging” consumers.

The 2017 Maryland law was thrown out in an April 2018 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which ruled that it violated the Constitution because it attempted to regulate out-of-state transactions. The appeals court said the state “cannot, even in an effort to protect its consumers from skyrocketing prescription drug costs, impose its preferences in this manner.”

In an October 2018 appeal, Maryland’s Attorney General Brian Frosh claimed the decision would limit states’ abilities to regulate drug prices and could put other consumer protection laws at risk.