Ruling on Myanmar Ban to Go to High Court

The Massachusetts attorney general’s office said that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court ruling that declared unconstitutional a state law banning agencies from doing business with companies involved in Myanmar, the military-ruled country formerly known as Burma. Democratic Rep. Byron Rushing, author of the Massachusetts Burma law, said the state decided to pursue the appeal based on strong backing from more than 20 other states and localities--including Los Angeles, Berkeley and Oakland--that have similar laws. The Massachusetts selective purchasing law was challenged by the National Foreign Trade Council, a group of leading U.S. multinationals, on the grounds that it violated the federal government’s constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations. Backers of the Burma law are optimistic because conservatives on the Supreme Court have taken steps recently to bolster states’ rights.